three o'clock in the morning before
`` Come into my room in the morning before breakfast , Harriet , dear , '' Mrs. Wilson entreated , as she kissed her young hostess good night . `` I know you will forgive my foolishness , when I have had a little talk with you . It is too late now for explanations . '' It was between two and three o'clock in the morning before the household of the Assistant Secretary of State again settled itself to sleep . Under her pillow Barbara Thurston had the key to Mr. William Hamlin 's strong box , in which valuable state papers were sometimes temporarily placed . Harriet Hamlin spent half an hour in the room with Mrs. Wilson before she came down to the breakfast table the next morning . `` It is all right , girls , '' she announced promptly , as soon as the maid left the room .