noon
His anxiety to see the beloved sufferers urged him forward so quickly that he presently overtook another man who was walking in the same direction in the cool of the evening . This was Ptolemaeus , the physician . He greeted Andreas with cheerful kindness , and the freedman knew what he meant when , without waiting to be asked , he said : `` We are out of the wood now ; the fever has passed away . The delirious fancies have left her , and since noon she has slept . When I quitted her an hour ago she was sleeping soundly and quietly . Till now the shaken soul has been living in a dream ; but now that the fever has passed away , she will soon be herself again . As yet she has recognized no one ; neither Agatha nor the lady Euryale ; not even Diodoros , whom I allowed to look at her yesterday for a moment .