a quarter past five
A great splashing was going on in the opposite wing , and manly voices hushed to suppressed tones were audible . Then came a sound of boots on the porch ; and peeping from behind her curtain , she saw Clarence and his friend striding across the grass in the direction of the stock-huts . She glanced at her watch . It was a quarter past five . `` Now is my chance , '' she thought ; and dressing rapidly , she put on a little cambric jacket , knotted her hair up , tied a handkerchief over it , and hurried into the sitting-room . Her first act was to throw open all the windows to let out the smell of stale tobacco , her next to hunt for a broom . She found one at last , hanging on the door of a sort of store-closet , and moving the furniture as noiselessly as she could , she gave the room a rapid but effectual sweeping .