midnight
Oh ! Arthur , Arthur , do not leave me she sobbed , covering her face with her hands , but Arthur does not heed her , racked with burning fever he can not even recognize her , as with patient gentleness she endeavors to alleviate his sufferings with cooling drinks , or bathes his burning brow . In vain were all the remedies that the simple people of the inn could suggest , or that Louisa 's love could devise . Day by day his life ebbed away consumed by the disease , the prostration and langour following the fever being too much for his strength , thus Louisa saw that he who alone in the wide world loved or cared for her , was fast passing away ; still though she could not but see it was so , she would not believe the terrible truth , but clung to the hope that a doctor might yet arrive before it was too late , and so her great bereavement came upon her with overwhelming force , when after a day of more than usual langour , during her midnight vigil , he ceased to breathe . Louisa had not known why he had clasped her hand so tightly all that night as she sat beside his couch , he was dead , and with a cry of anguish Louisa fell insensible beside the lifeless body of her husband . The moonbeams fell alike upon the inanimate forms of the living and the dead , and the morning sun rose brightly and she still lay there , none heard the midnight cry of anguish , or if heard it was unheeded , and the noisy lamentations of the girl who brought in the morning meal , greeted her as consciousness returned . The master of the inn said the funeral must take place at sunset , and Louisa shed bitter tears in the little room which was given her , while the corpse was being prepared for interment , for these precipitate funeral arrangements added greatly to Louisa 's grief .