twelve o'clock
Ann said `` Hush ! '' in a frightened tone , and then Miss Ramsay folded her hands as an intimation to the children that the meal was at an end , and that one of them was to say grace . Immediately after breakfast they went upstairs to the schoolroom , and lessons began , just as if no four little Delaneys were to arrive to turn everything topsy-turvy that evening . Lessons proceeded without any interruption until twelve o'clock . Then the three little girls retired to the neat bedroom which they shared together , and put on their sun-bonnets , their white capes , and their washing-gloves , and came back again to Miss Ramsay , equipped for their walk . The boys , with straw hats sticking very far back on their heads , were also waiting Miss Ramsay 's pleasure in the hall downstairs . The children and the governess went out walking solemnly two and two , Miss Ramsay and Conrad in front , Lucy and Mary following , with Ann and Philip behind .