three o'clock
She went up some dirty-yellowish steps , and rang the `` Patients ' '' bell , because she knew she ought not to ring the `` Tradesmen 's . '' A servant , not exactly dirty , but unattractive , let her into a hall painted a dull drab , and floored with cocoa-matting , otherwise bare . Then up bare stairs to a room where a stout , pale , common woman with two warts on her face , was drinking tea . It was three o'clock . This was the matron . The matron soon deposited her in a bedroom , not very small , but bare and hard and dusty-seeming , and there left her . Alvina sat down on her chair , looked at her box opposite her , looked round the uninviting room , and smiled to herself .