noon
For the last few weeks my husband and I have been living in an apartment house on Fifty-ninth Street , and , as we had not a care in the world , we were very happy till Mr. Holmes was called away on business to Philadelphia . This was two weeks ago . Five days later I received an affectionate letter from him , in which he promised to come back the next day ; and the news so delighted me that I accepted an invitation to the theatre from some intimate friends of ours . The next morning I naturally felt fatigued and rose late ; but I was very cheerful , for I expected my husband at noon . And now comes the perplexing mystery . In the course of dressing myself I stepped to my bureau , and seeing a small newspaper slip attached to the cushion by a pin , I drew it off and read it . It was a death notice , and my hair rose and my limbs failed me as I took in its fatal and incredible words . ''