twelve o'clock
But the problem of the box was not solved -- and , in the end , the only part of the toy village that Mrs. Monk ever saw was the youngest Miss Noah and one apple-tree for her to sit under . The ritual of the journey to Cow Farm was , by this time , of course , firmly established , and the first part of the ritual was that one should wake up at three in the morning . This year , however , for some strange mysterious reason Jeremy overslept himself and did not wake up until eight o'clock , to find then that everyone was already busy packing and brushing and rushing about , and that all his own most sacred preparations must be squeezed into no time at all if he were to be ready . Old Tom Collins 's bus came along at twelve o'clock to catch the one o'clock train , so that Jeremy might be considered to have the whole morning for his labours , but that was not going to be enough for him unless he was very careful . Grown-up people had such a way of suddenly catching on to you and washing your ears , or making you brush your teeth , or sitting you down in a corner with a book , that circumnavigating them and outplotting them needed as much nerve and enterprise as tracking Red Indians . When things were fined down to the most naked accuracy he had apparently only two `` jobs '' : one to accustom Hamlet to walking with a `` lead , '' the other to close the green box ; but of course Mary would want advice , and there would , in all probability , be a dispute or two about property that would take up the time . It was indeed an eventful morning .