thirteen minutes past nine
Through the curtained windows of the furnished flat which Mrs. Horace Hignett had rented for her stay in New York , rays of golden sunlight peeped in like the foremost spies of some advancing army . It was a fine summer morning . The hands of the Dutch clock in the hall pointed to thirteen minutes past nine ; those of the ormolu clock in the sitting-room to eleven minutes past ten ; those of the carriage clock on the bookshelf to fourteen minutes to six . In other words , it was exactly eight ; and Mrs. Hignett acknowledged the fact by moving her head on the pillow , opening her eyes , and sitting up in bed . She always woke at eight precisely . Was this Mrs. Hignett _ the _ Mrs. Hignett , the world-famous writer on Theosophy , the author of `` The Spreading Light , '' `` What of the Morrow , '' and all the rest of that well-known series ?