three o'clock
It was very short , but the few words it contained were exceedingly disquieting . It was accompanied by a card on which Matilde read ` Giuditta Astarita , Sonnambula , ' and the address was below , in one corner . The few words of the letter , written in a subtle , sloping , feminine handwriting , correctly spelt and grammatically well expressed , ran as follows : -- `` The spirit of B.M. wishes to make you an important communication and torments me continually . I pray you to come to me soon , on any day between ten and three o'clock . In order that you may be assured that it is really the spirit of B.M. , and not a deceiving spirit , I am to remind you that on the evening of the ninth of this month , when you and he were alone together in a room which is all yellow , you laid your hand upon his head and stroked his hair and said : ` It is to save me . ' The spirit tells me that you will remember this and understand it , and know that he is not a deceiving spirit . '' Matilde read the short letter many times over , and her hands trembled when she at last folded it and returned it to its envelope .