nine in the
morning
He was a blissfully lazy child , and had a number of long , dull plays , such as making nests for his china duck and waiting for her to lay him an egg . Thea thought him very intelligent , and she was proud that he was so big and burly . She found him restful , loved to hear him call her `` sitter , '' and really liked his companionship , especially when she was tired . On Saturday , for instance , when she taught from nine in the morning until five in the afternoon , she liked to get off in a corner with Thor after supper , away from all the bathing and dressing and joking and talking that went on in the house , and ask him about his duck , or hear him tell one of his rambling stories . By the time Thea 's fifteenth birthday came round , she was established as a music teacher in Moonstone . The new room had been added to the house early in the spring , and Thea had been giving her lessons there since the middle of May . She liked the personal independence which was accorded her as a wage-earner .