nine o'clock
`` Now , please tell about her ; I know it 's something funny to make you laugh so , '' said Polly and Fan together . `` Well , it was droll , and I 'm glad I remembered it for it 's just the story to tell you young things . `` It was years ago , '' began grandma , briskly , `` and teachers were very much stricter than they are now . The girls at Miss Cotton 's were not allowed lights in their rooms after nine o'clock , never went out alone , and were expected to behave like models of propriety from morning till night . `` As you may imagine , ten young girls , full of spirits and fun , found these rules hard to keep , and made up for good behavior in public by all sorts of frolics in private . `` Miss Cotton and her brother sat in the back parlor after school was over , and the young ladies were sent to bed . Mr. John was very deaf , and Miss Priscilla very near-sighted , two convenient afflictions for the girls on some occasions , but once they proved quite the reverse , as you shall hear .