ten o’clock
At nine o'clock Benedetto took the road to the Sacro Speco . He left the monastery unobserved , while Fra Antonio was confabulating with Giovanni Selva 's messenger . At that moment the rays of the returning sun suddenly lit up the old walls , the road , the hill itself ; shrill cries of gladness , swift wings of tiny birds broke through the green on all sides , and to his lips the words rose spontaneously : `` I am coming ! '' Jeanne and Noemi reached the monastery at ten o'clock . A few paces from the gate Jeanne was seized with a violent palpitation . She would have liked to visit the garden before the convent , the urchin from Subiaco having told her that the monks of Santa Scolastica had a fine kitchen-garden , and that some people belonging to them worked in it -- an old man from Subiaco and a young stranger . Now , it was out of the question .