noon
`` Then mind you do n't work too hard , or I shall be sorry I helped you stretch your little gold mine . '' `` I will be very careful , but I _ must _ hurry , for there are only seven weeks before Christmas . '' With a parting smile she slipped out of the door and rushed away to her own room , eager to make with her own hands the pretty lace Madame had begun for her ; and from that moment all her leisure time was devoted to crocheting ties or painting calendars for her loved ones ' Christmas Day . With the first gleam of dawn she was up in the morning , busy with brush or hook long before the breakfast bell called them to the day 's routine ; at recess and during the noon hour , she was hidden away with Bertha or Carrie in some nook of the great gardens , making frantic use of every opportunity ; and when the lessons were learned in the evening , back to back with Chrystobel , she toiled with patient fingers , sighing with relief as each dainty tie was laid in state beside its finished mates in her big hat box . Madame 's young friend was glad to take some kodak pictures of the eager girl , the prints were splendidly clear-cut , and Tabitha was delighted with the result . So when her busy brush had painted all the cardboard squares in soft colors , and the carefully trimmed snapshots were mounted , Tabitha 's calendars were really works of art ; and her heart was filled with happiness over what she had achieved . Just a week before Christmas she slipped the last gift into the hat box and sat down before it to gloat over her treasures with loving eyes .