ten o'clock
Now you eat all your oatmeal like a good little girl and then you help all you know how with the morning work and then we 'll go down town and buy some pretty invitations and favors . '' Never did oatmeal vanish as quickly as did Mary Jane 's bowlful on that morning ! And never did a little girl help so well with beds and bathroom -- really Mrs. Merrill had n't guessed that a nearly-five-year-old could do so much . So it was n't quite ten o'clock yet when they made ready to go down town . `` I 'll be down in just a minute , dear , '' said Mrs. Merrill when Mary Jane was all ready . `` You run along and wait for me at the front porch . '' Mary Jane walked down the stairs very slowly , and out onto the porch , and out onto the steps , but still mother had n't come .