six o'clock
`` Now , Marjorie , '' went on Mrs. Sherwood , after Jane had been despatched on her errand , `` take off those muddy shoes and set them on the top step of the stairs . '' Rather wondering at this command , Marjorie sat down on the top step , unlaced her shoes , and did with them as she had been bidden . `` Now , this is your punishment , my child ; you came up these stairs when you had been told not to do so : now you may spend the rest of the day on the stairs . You are not to leave them until six o'clock to-night . With the muddy steps and your muddy shoes in front of your eyes all day long , you may , perhaps , learn to remember better in future . '' Marjorie could scarcely believe her ears . To stay on the stairs all day long seemed a funny punishment ; and except for missing the row on the river , it did not seem a very hard one .