twelve o'clock
But the adventures of Palamon and Arcite , deciphered by means of assiduous reference to the glossary , were not exciting ; at the end of the half hour Betty 's head drooped back against the plush cushions , her eyes closed , and her book slid unheeded to the floor . Regardless of all the elegant leisure that she had meant to secure by a diligent five-hour attack upon `` The Canterbury Tales , '' Betty had fallen fast asleep . Some time later the jolt of the halting train woke her . She glanced at her watch -- it was twelve o'clock -- and looked out for the station sign . But there was no station sign and no station ; only snowy fields stretching off to meet wooded hills on one side and the gorge of a frozen river on the other . It had been a gray , sunless morning ; now the air was thick with snow , falling in big , lazily-moving flakes which seemed undecided whether or not the journey they were making was worth their while . All this Betty saw through small bare spots on the heavily frosted car windows .