one o'clock
`` It might have got into my eyes and blinded me , '' she declared with plaintive dignity , and leaving the peppery remains on her plate , stalked off to the garden . She had certainly been too busy thinking during breakfast to notice her plate . It had struck her that if she really wished Beatrice to allow her to do charwoman 's work at the school , she must give some proof of her capacity in that direction . `` Mrs. Cass never begins till one o'clock , '' she thought . `` I 'll go down this morning and get it all done before she comes , and then I can show Beatrice . '' It seemed the only possible way of earning money open to her , so stealing one of Nellie 's coarse aprons and a tin of soft soap from the kitchen , she hurried off to the school . She knew where Mrs. Cass kept the bucket and scrubbing-brush which she used for her cleaning operations ; they were in a cupboard at the end of the passage .