four o'clock
The girls at the painting lesson , with the exception of Fiona Campbell , were all Seniors . If they realized any difference in Meg 's appearance , there was no opportunity either for them to make comments or for her to give explanations . I am afraid the study in oil colours of carnations , upon which she was engaged , did not make much progress that afternoon , for her thoughts were entirely about Gipsy , wondering how far she had got upon her travels , and whether Miss Poppleton had yet discovered her absence . Directly the four o'clock bell rang and the class was released , Meg , leaving the other girls leisurely putting away their tubes of paints and cleaning their palettes , scrambled her possessions together anyhow , and bolted from the room before she could be questioned . Going boldly to the boarders ' cupboard in the hall , she purloined Gipsy 's hat , and , without waiting even to tell her story to Hetty and Dilys , departed from the premises with all possible speed . She had come to school that day on her bicycle , and fetching it hastily from the shed where all the machines were stored , she rode away in the direction of Greyfield . There was something slightly wrong with one of her pedals , and her father had told her that morning that she had better have it mended at once , so she intended to take the cycle to the depot where it had been bought , and let it be thoroughly overhauled before she returned home .