about five o'clock
He could not quite believe that he was almost stupid with extreme fatigue , and yet he remembered that it had been more like a calm dream than anything else , a dream of peace and rest . At the time , it all seemed natural , as the strangest things do when one has been face to face with death for a few hours , and when one is so tired that one can hardly think at all . There was less consternation in the Volterra household than might have been expected when Sabina did not return before bedtime . The servants knew that she had gone out with an old gentleman , a certain Signor Sassi , at about five o'clock , but until Volterra came in , the Baroness could not find out who Sassi was , and she insisted on searching every corner of the house , as if she were in quest of his biography , for the servants assured her that Sabina was still out , and they certainly knew . She carefully examined Sabina 's room too , looking for a note , a line of writing , anything to explain the girl 's unexpected absence . She could find nothing except the short letter from Sabina 's mother to which reference has been made , and she read it over several times . Sabina received no letters , and had been living in something like total isolation .