twelve o'clock
Thinking she was asleep she returned half-an-hour later , only to find her absent , and that the bed had not been slept in . We told the mistress , never thinking that such an awful fate had befallen poor Miss Mary . Mistress was inclined to believe that she had gone off on some wild excursion somewhere , for of late she 's been in the habit of going away for a day or two without telling us . At first none of us dreamed that anything had happened , until , just before twelve o'clock , Reuben Dixon 's lad , who 'd been out fishing , came up , shouting that poor Miss Mary was in the water under some bushes close to the stile that leads into Monk 's Wood . At first we could n't believe it ; but , with the others , I flew down post-haste , and there she was , poor thing , under the surface , with her dress caught in the bushes that droop into the water . Her hat was gone , and her hair , unbound , floated out , waving with the current . We at once got a boat and took her out , but she was quite dead .