six o'clock before
`` Fine , '' agreed Nora . `` We used to sing a song in kindergarten when I was very young and foolish that started out , ` We are little builders , ' although at that time I never expected to really become one . '' `` Nora , '' said Grace severely , `` you have all Hippy 's bad traits and some of your own thrown in . '' It was nearing six o'clock before the four friends left the scene of the fire and started for home . Nora 's prediction of rain proved true , for just as they made their way across the campus the rain began to come down in torrents , wetting them to the skin , but in no respect dampening their joy over the fact that this shower had come just in time to save their High School from further ravage by the flames . `` The thing to do is to decide just what we want , and then go ahead with it . '' Grace Harlowe energetically addressed her remarks to the members of the Phi Sigma Tau , who had taken possession of the Harlowe 's comfortable living room .