six o’clock in the morning
Mrs Murchison 's reception of the suggested duty may be imagined , also the comments of acquaintances -- a trick like that ! The inevitable hour arrived when she should be instructed on the piano , and the second time the music teacher came her pupil was discovered on the roof of the house , with the ladder drawn up after her . She did not wish to learn the piano , and from that point of vantage informed her family that it was a waste of money . She would hide in the hayloft with a novel ; she would be off by herself in a canoe at six o'clock in the morning ; she would go for walks in the rain of windy October twilights and be met kicking the wet leaves along in front of her `` in a dream . '' No one could dream with impunity in Elgin , except in bed . Mothers of daughters sympathized in good set terms with Mrs Murchison . `` If that girl were mine -- '' they would say , and leave you with a stimulated notion of the value of corporal punishment .