three o'clock
With kindest regards to your father , and love to yourself , I am , `` Yours very sincerely , `` MARY A. HAMILTON . '' Mrs. Hamilton 's eyes were very tender as she folded and sealed her letter . `` Poor little girl , '' she said half aloud , `` I suspect she thinks her heart is broken , but we must try to mend it for her . '' At three o'clock on the afternoon of the twelfth of October the Hamilton house was very still . Mrs. Hamilton had gone into town , the housemaid was taking her `` afternoon out , '' and the cook , who had been kept awake by toothache the night before , was enjoying a nap . Just about this time Arthur peered cautiously from his room . No one being in sight he came out slowly and carefully on his crutches .