About five o'clock
Toward three o'clock I saw a solitary figure -- a woman -- ride across the bridge . No one else had returned , nor was the hunting party expected until sunset . I recognized Francezka 's form and surmised that , fatigued with all she had undergone , she had slipped away from the hunting party and had returned to the castle to rest . About five o'clock , when the short winter afternoon was closing and the sun was red , I received a message from Francezka . She desired to see me in her apartment . I climbed the stairs to her rooms at once . Her door was opened for me by old Elizabeth , Peter Embden 's sister , who , I remembered , had been Francezka 's waiting maid long ago on that journey from Königsberg .