two in the morning
Silas , feeling bound to accept rebuke and admonition as a brotherly office , felt no resentment , but only pain , at his friend 's doubts concerning him ; and to this was soon added some anxiety at the perception that Sarah 's manner towards him began to exhibit a strange fluctuation between an effort at an increased manifestation of regard and involuntary signs of shrinking and dislike . He asked her if she wished to break off their engagement ; but she denied this : their engagement was known to the church , and had been recognized in the prayer-meetings ; it could not be broken off without strict investigation , and Sarah could render no reason that would be sanctioned by the feeling of the community . At this time the senior deacon was taken dangerously ill , and , being a childless widower , he was tended night and day by some of the younger brethren or sisters . Silas frequently took his turn in the night-watching with William , the one relieving the other at two in the morning . The old man , contrary to expectation , seemed to be on the way to recovery , when one night Silas , sitting up by his bedside , observed that his usual audible breathing had ceased . The candle was burning low , and he had to lift it to see the patient 's face distinctly . Examination convinced him that the deacon was dead -- had been dead some time , for the limbs were rigid .