one o'clock in the afternoon
It was a circumstance calculated at least to arrest attention , that these seven people , each unknown to the others , and without concert with the others , repeated the ugly message which had sought me out through the happy summer morning in Washington Street . There was no hesitation , no doubt , no contradiction . I could not trip them or cross-question them out of it . Unerring , assured , and consistent , the fiat went forth : -- `` On the second of May , at one o'clock in the afternoon , you will pass out of the body . '' I would not have believed them if I could have helped myself , I sighed for the calm days when I had laughed at medium and prophet , and sneered at ghost and rapping . I took lodgings in Philadelphia , locked my doors , and paced my rooms all day and half the night , tortured by my thoughts , and consulting books of medicine to discover what evidence I could by any possibility give of unsuspected disease . I was at that time absolutely well and strong ; absolutely well and strong I was forced to confess myself , after having waded through Latin adjectives and anatomical illustrations enough to make a ghost of Hercules .