seven o'clock
The Fossil Hunters If Miss Beasley had been asked what was her most difficult problem in the management of her school , she would probably have replied the arrangement of the practising time-table . With the exception of four , all the girls learned music , and therefore , for a period of forty-five minutes daily , each of these twenty-two pupils must do execution on the piano . There were five instruments at the Grange , and , except during the hours of morning lessons and meals , they hardly ever seemed to be silent . At seven o'clock they began with scales , arpeggios , and studies , and passed during the day through a selection of pieces , classical and modern , in such various degrees of playing , strumming , and thumping as might be calculated to wear out their hammers and snap their strings in double quick time . About half of the girls learned from Mademoiselle , and the remainder had lessons from Mr. Browne , a visiting master who came twice a week to the school . He was a short little man , with sandy hair , and a bald patch in the middle of it , and a Vandyke beard that was turning rather grey . He was himself an excellent musician , and sometimes the performances of his pupils offended his sensitive ear to the point of exasperation , and he would storm at them in a gurgling voice , blinking his short-sighted hazel eyes very rapidly , and wrinkling up his forehead till it looked like squeezed india-rubber .