four in the afternoon
I love you dearly . `` MARY . '' The paper slipped from Whitaker 's trembling hand and fluttered unheeded to the floor . He sprang to the telephone and presently had the Waldorf on the wire ; it was true , he learned : Mrs. Whitaker had registered at the hotel in the morning , and had left at four in the afternoon . He was refused information as to whether she had left a forwarding address for her mail . He wrote her immediately , and perhaps not altogether wisely , under stress of distraction , sending the letter by special delivery in care of the hotel . It was returned him in due course of time , embellished with a pencilled memorandum to the effect that Mrs. Whitaker had left no address .