eight o'clock in the morning
Among those who took an interest in her was the chancellor of state , Minister von Hardenberg . Curiosity had at first induced him to call upon her ; then her clever and piquant remarks struck him as something very strange , and at last he became a regular visitor . Of late , at his special request , the room of the patient , during her crises and clairvoyant trances , had been shut against all other visitors , and only the chancellor and the physician were present . The young woman , who , during her trances , regularly announced at what hour of the following day she would relapse into this condition , had predicted that she would awake from her magnetic slumber at eight o'clock in the morning , and would then be in a state of clairvoyance . This hour had not yet arrived ; the clock which stood in her room on the bureau under the looking-glass indicated that about ten minutes were still wanting to the stated time . A profound silence reigned in the room of the young patient . The physician sat reading on a high-backed chair at her bedside -- his book contained the history and revelations of Swedenborg , the great Swedish ghost-seer .