two o'clock in the afternoon
It was hard for Roberta to believe that she heard aright . The old man had written that his entire stock was worth no more than five hundred dollars , and since Roberta had procured more than that sum for him , he was making her a gift of the books that remained , and requested that she remove them at once , as the rent on the shop would expire the following day . The janitress , with an eye to business , at once said that her son , Jacob , was idle and could truck the books for the young lady wherever she wished them to go . It was two o'clock in the afternoon when this conversation took place , and at five o'clock Gloria and Lena May , returning from the Settlement House , were amazed to see a skinny horse drawing a two-wheeled ash cart stopping at the curb in front of the Pensinger mansion . The driver was a Hebrew lad , but at his side sat no less a personage than Roberta , who beamed down upon her astonished sisters . After a moment of explanation the three girls assisted the boy Jacob to cart all the books to one of the unoccupied upper rooms , and when he had driven away Roberta sank down upon a kitchen chair and laughed until she declared that she ached . Lena May , busy setting the table for supper , merrily declared : `` Bobs , what a girl you are to have adventures .