ten minutes before nine
That the girls were the cause of their being deprived of their regular place for holding business meetings never occurred to them , and the only reason they could assign for this remarkable delay on the part of the janitor was that Deacon Littlefield was ill . They did not really hope that their teacher was sick ; but they would have been willing he should be slightly indisposed , if , in such case , they would have an unexpected holiday . Si did not think it advisable to neglect business simply because they were obliged to stand out-of-doors instead of being in a warm room , and he promptly collected twenty-five cents for the proposed sleigh-ride from each boy who was so fortunate as to have that amount of money with him . At ten minutes before nine , the boys , who had begun to grow surprised because none of the girls had ' appeared , were disappointed at seeing Deacon Littlefield , whom they had believed to be sick , come into the yard , and in five minutes more they trooped into the schoolroom behind him , the door having been opened by the janitor from the inside the moment the teacher stood before it . All this looked mysterious , and the mystification was complete when the sleigh-riders saw every individual member of the `` ten-centers , '' with the single exception of Winny , seated at their desks much as if they had remained there all night . On going to his seat , each boy found a letter and a package staring him in the face ; and from that time until the Deacon called the school to order , no sound was heard , save the rustling of paper as the boys read the missives , . while the girls appeared to have no thought save for their books , which they were studying with most remarkable intentness .