But then to-morrow's explanations would be infinitely worse.

No, it was better to face the horrible ordeal and get it over.

As it happened, Miss Beach had gone out to lunch, so that leave of absence was an impossibility.

Winona ate her early dinner alone.
"Aren't you well, miss?
Would you like me to make you a cup of tea ?" asked Alice the housemaid, noticing that the pudding was unappreciated, and divining that something must be amiss.
"No, thanks! I'm in a hurry, and must fly off to school as quickly as I can.

It's my early afternoon." Winona had a music lesson at a quarter past two on Thursdays.