nearly three o'clock
The next day Miss Heydinger 's place was vacant . She was ill -- from overstudy -- and her illness lasted to within three weeks of the terminal examination . Then she came back with a pallid face and a strenuous unavailing industry . It was nearly three o'clock , and in the Biological Laboratory the lamps were all alight . The class was busy with razors cutting sections of the root of a fern to examine it microscopically . A certain silent frog-like boy , a private student who plays no further part in this story , was working intently , looking more like a frog than usual -- his expression modest with a touch of effort . Behind Miss Heydinger , jaded and untidy in her early manner again , was a vacant seat , an abandoned microscope and scattered pencils and note-books .