four o'clock
All summer she worked under the hot sun , picking berries for a neighboring farmer , her bald head covered with a ragged straw hat , and when the last berry was gathered and she had the required sum she had triumphantly purchased the long yellow curls she had craved always . And now , prouder than any queen , she was attending the Lincoln School . It was the sort of story that a city editor likes for it brings shoals of letters with offers of help , to the newspaper office , and proves in a most practical way that it has been read . Usually Mary Rose was home from school by four o'clock for at half-past three her room was dismissed and it never took her more than half an hour to say good-by to her numerous new friends and dawdle home . But the afternoon after the story of the yellow-curls appeared in the _ Gazette _ , Mary Rose was not at home at four o'clock . She was not at home at half-past four . Mrs. Donovan looked uneasily at the clock .