ten o’clock
On reaching home the previous night , all her other sensations had been absorbed in a vague feeling of mingled dread and curiosity , produced by the sight of the weird figure in the yellow mask , which she had left standing alone with Fabio in the palace corridor . The morning light , however , suggested new thoughts . She now opened the note which the young nobleman had pressed into her hand , and read over and over again the hurried pencil lines scrawled on the paper . Could there be any harm , any forgetfulness of her own duty , in using the key inclosed in the note , and keeping her appointment in the Ascoli gardens at ten o'clock ? Surely not -- surely the last sentence he had written , `` Believe in my truth and honor , Nanina , for I believe implicitly in yours , '' was enough to satisfy her this time that she could not be doing wrong in listening for once to the pleading of her own heart . And besides , there in her lap lay the key of the wicket-gate . It was absolutely necessary to use that , if only for the purpose of giving it back safely into the hand of its owner .