about midnight
The first appearance of the associate of much of her guilt had indeed terrified her ; but he scrupled not to assure her , that his penitence was equal to her own , and that he was conveying her where their joint deposition would be formally received , in order that they might , so far as possible , atone for the evil of which they had been jointly guilty . He also promised her kind usage for herself , and support for her children ; and she willingly accompanied him to the clergyman 's residence , he himself resolving to abide in concealment the issue of the mystery , without again facing his master , whose star , as he well discerned , was about to shoot speedily from its exalted sphere . The clergyman visited the unfortunate patient , as he had done frequently during her residence in his vicinity , and desired that she might be carefully attended . During the whole day , she seemed better ; but , whether the means of supporting her exhausted frame had been too liberally administered , or whether the thoughts which gnawed her conscience had returned with double severity when she was released from the pressure of immediate want , it is certain that , about midnight , the fever began to gain ground , and the person placed in attendance on her came to inform the clergyman , then deeply engaged with the siege of Ptolemais , that she doubted if the woman would live till morning , and that she had something lay heavy at her heart , which she wished , as the emissary expressed it , `` to make , a clean breast of '' before she died , or lost possession of her senses . Awakened by such a crisis , Mr. Cargill at once became a man of this world , clear in his apprehension , and cool in his resolution , as he always was when the path of duty lay before him . Comprehending , from the various hints of his friend Touchwood , that the matter was of the last consequence , his own humanity , as well as inexperience , dictated his sending for skilful assistance . His man-servant was accordingly dispatched on horseback to the Well for Dr. Quackleben ; while , upon the suggestion of one of his maids , `` that Mrs. Dods was an uncommon skeely body about a sick-bed , '' the wench was dismissed to supplicate the assistance of the gudewife of the Cleikum , which she was not , indeed , wont to refuse whenever it could be useful .