about a quarter to eight
asked Miss Ravenscroft . `` There is very little doubt that she will have to be expelled . Such a girl as that is a firebrand in a school , and however rich she may be , and however well-born , the sooner she leaves us the better . '' That evening at about a quarter to eight a band of perfectly silent girls might have been seen walking along the road that led to Mrs. Church 's cottage . They walked as much as possible on the grass , and glided in single file . Each one , as they expressed it , had her heart in her mouth . Occasionally they looked behind them ; sometimes they started at an ordinary shadow , thinking that a policeman at least would be waiting for them .