ten o'clock
But if I had them all together , I could make them see things -- they would have to see it . They are positively cruel to Mrs. Gray , and the dear little Jim -- and without cause -- and they should be told . Nobody would be so mean -- if they knew -- even the old grandfather would feel sorry . '' When ten o'clock came , and not one pupil had arrived , Pearl decided she would go over to the post-office for her mail . There would be a letter from home , and never before had she so much needed the loving assurance that she had a home where a welcome awaited her , even if the world had gone wrong . The Watson family would stand by her , no matter what the verdict of Purple Springs . In addition to the home letter , with its reassuring news that four hens were set and the red cow had come in , and the boys had earned three dollars and fifteen cents on their gopher tails , and the twenty-fourth being a holiday .