six
o'clock in the morning
The accident had happened near sunset , and the story of Giovanni 's heroic behaviour had been repeated everywhere before midnight . The men who had found him had , of course , reported the fact after the first confusion was over , but it was some time before the news got up to any superior officer , though the King 's aide-de-camp had left instructions that any information about Giovanni was to be telephoned to the Quirinal at once . When it had been understood at last that he was in the private hospital of the White Sisters , badly injured but alive , it was too late to think of sending an officer to make inquiries in person . On the other hand , six o'clock in the morning is not too early for most modern sovereigns , general officers , and members of the really hard-working professions , among which literature is sometimes included . In half-an-hour Giovanni 's little report had been read , copied , telephoned , and telegraphed , and in less than half-an-hour more a magnificent personage in the uniform of a colonel of cavalry on the General Staff , accompanied by a less gorgeous but extremely smart subaltern , stopped at the door of the Convent hospital in a Court carriage . He came to ask after Captain Severi on behalf of the Sovereign , and to ascertain whether he could perhaps be seen during the morning . He was told that this must depend on the surgeon 's decision ; he expressed his thanks to the portress with extreme civility and drove away again .