six o'clock
`` I can not stay , '' she said . `` I must go . '' But just then she heard voices in the hall below , and , believing that Mrs. Montague had returned , she turned back and sat down again with a sinking heart , assured that her resolve had come too late . At six o'clock she went down to the basement , where she had been told dinner would be served , and where she found no one save Mary and Sarah , the cook , who proved to be a good-natured woman of about thirty-five years , and who at once manifested a motherly interest in the pretty and youthful seamstress . Mary informed her , during the meal , that Mrs. Montague was going out that evening to a grand reception , and had sent word that she could not see her until the next morning ; but that she would find some sheets and pillow slips in the sewing room , which she could begin to work upon after breakfast , and she would lay out other work for her later . Mona uttered a sigh of relief over the knowledge that the meeting , which she so much dreaded , was to be postponed a little , and after dinner she returned to her room , and sat down quite composedly to read the morning paper , which she had purchased on her way to Mrs. Montague 's . While thus engaged , her eye fell upon the following paragraph : `` No clew has as yet been obtained to the mysterious Palmer affair , although both the police and detectives are doing their utmost to trace the clever thief .