four o'clock
Occasionally , however , there would arise a question of conscience , and then she had shown the `` grit '' and `` will of iron '' of which Mr. Mencke had spoken . Mrs. Mencke arose as she made her last remark , and Violet , fearing to be found eavesdropping , sped noiselessly on into the library , where she secured her book and letter ; then fleeing by a door opposite the one she had entered , and up a back stair-way , she reached her own room without exciting the suspicion of any one that she had overheard the plot concerning her . Locking herself in , she sat down at once and wrote all that she had overheard to Wallace , telling him that she should certainly grieve herself to death if she was immured in a convent , and asking him what she should do in this emergency . She informed him that she should take a German lesson at three the next afternoon , and begged him to meet her in the pupils ' reception-parlor of the institute at four o'clock . She was so wrought up that she could not sleep , and tossed restlessly most of the night , while she wondered why Belle and Wilhelm were so cruel to her , and what the secret was to which Belle had referred ; she had not , until then , been aware that there was anything mysterious connected with their family history . She arose very early the next morning , and stole forth to post her letter , long before any of the household were astir , after which she crept back to bed and fell into a heavy , dreamless slumber , which lasted until late in the forenoon . Wallace received Violet 's letter by the morning post , and was greatly exercised over it .