eighteen o'clock
cried Jessica again . `` Nine o'clock ! -- let me run down the lane for a moment first , '' begged little Joan . Then Martin blew eighteen o'clock and said it was six o'clock tomorrow morning . And all the girls clapped their hands for joy -- all except Joscelyn , who sat quite by herself in a corner of the orchard , and neither blew nor listened . And so they continued to change the hour and the occupation : now washing , now wringing , now drying ; now milking , now baking , now mending ; now cooking their meal , now eating it ; now strolling in the cool of the evening , now going to market on marketing-day : -- till by dinner they had filled the morning with a week of hours , and the air with downy seedlings , as exquisite as crystals of frost . At dinner the maids ate very little , and Jessica said , `` I think I 'm getting tired of bread . ''