ten minutes past ten
Then he added mentally : `` And that settles my vacation . '' Dr. Morgan 's assistant was a young man whom nature had supplied with a prematurely bald head , a flourishing beard , and a way of appearing ten years older than he really was . To these gifts , priceless to a young medical man , might be added boundless ambition and considerable common sense . The yellow envelope which contained the few lines meaning life or death to little Hiram Joash Baker was delivered at Dr. Morgan 's Back Bay office at ten minutes past ten . Dr. Payson -- that was the assistant 's name -- was out , but Jackson , the colored butler , took the telegram into his employer 's office , laid it on the desk among the papers , and returned to the hall to finish his nap in the armchair . When Dr. Payson came in , at 11:30 , the sleepy Jackson forgot to mention the dispatch . The next morning as Jackson was cleaning the professional boots in the kitchen and chatting with the cook , the thought of the yellow envelope came back to his brain .