Nine o'clock
`` I shall be in Edelweiss this week without fail . I have something very important to tell you . '' So it read . Nine o'clock of a rainy night , on the steep , winding road that climbed the mountain-side from the walled-in city to the crest on which stood the famed monastery of St. Valentine , -- nine o'clock of a night fraught with pleasurable anticipation on the part of one R. Schmidt , whose eager progress up the slope was all too slow notwithstanding the encouragement offered by the conscienceless Jehu who frequently beat his poor steeds into a gallop over level stretches and never allowed them to pause on the cruel grades . Late in the afternoon there had come to the general post-office a letter for Mr. R. Schmidt . He had told her that any message intended for him would reach his hands if directed to the post-office . Since his arrival in the city , three days before , he had purposely avoided the main streets and avenues of Edelweiss , venturing forth but seldom from the Castle grounds , and all because he knew that he could not go abroad during the day-time without forfeiting the privileges to be enjoyed in emulation of the good Caliphs of Baghdad .