nearly six o'clock
Even when the words were not wailed out disconsolately by one of them and echoed by the others , the thought that each thing they were doing was for the last time , went with them like a mournful undercurrent . `` Did you ever have a day fly by as fast as this one ? '' asked Joyce that afternoon , looking up from the trunk that Mom Beck was helping her to pack . `` Here it is nearly six o'clock , and I have n't been down to the mulberry-tree . I wanted one more swing on the grape-vine swing before I dressed for dinner . It 's like flying to go sailing through the air , across the ravine , on that grape-vine that covers the mulberry-tree . '' `` There wo n't be time now , '' said the Little Colonel , casting an anxious look toward the front windows .