twenty minutes to ten
On going in one Sunday morning , very late , she found Alethea teaching her class as well as her own . With a look of vexation she inquired , as she took her place , if it was so very late , and on the way to church she said again , ` I thought I was quite in time ; I do not like to hurry the children -- the distant ones have not time to come . It was only half-past nine . ' ` Oh , Lilias , ' said Marianne , ` it was twenty minutes to ten , I know , for I had just looked at the clock . ' ` That clock is always too fast , ' said Lily . The next Sunday was very cold , and Lilias did not feel at all disposed to leave the fire when the others prepared to go to the afternoon school . ` Is it time ? '