two until six o'clock
No wonder Miss Polly was feeling curiously helpless . It was not long before life at the Harrington homestead settled into something like order -- though not exactly the order that Miss Polly had at first prescribed . Pollyanna sewed , practised , read aloud , and studied cooking in the kitchen , it is true ; but she did not give to any of these things quite so much time as had first been planned . She had more time , also , to `` just live , '' as she expressed it , for almost all of every afternoon from two until six o'clock was hers to do with as she liked -- provided she did not `` like '' to do certain things already prohibited by Aunt Polly . It is a question , perhaps , whether all this leisure time was given to the child as a relief to Pollyanna from work -- or as a relief to Aunt Polly from Pollyanna . Certainly , as those first July days passed , Miss Polly found occasion many times to ejaculate `` What an extraordinary child ! '' and certainly the reading and sewing lessons found her at their conclusion each day somewhat dazed and wholly exhausted .