four o’clock in the morning
Oh dear ! '' THE Sunday at Oldburgh was not spent as Kate would have had it . It dawned upon her in the midst of horrid dreams , ending by wakening to an overpowering sick headache , the consequence of the agitations and alarms of the previous day , and the long fast , appeased by the contents of the pastry-cook 's shop , with the journey and the excitement of the meeting -- altogether quite sufficient to produce such a miserable feeling of indisposition , that if Kate could have thought at all of anything but present wretchedness , she would have feared that she was really carrying out the likeness to Cardinal Wolsey by laying her bones among them . That it was not quite so bad as that , might be inferred from her having no doctor but Mary Wardour , who attended to her most assiduously from her first moans at four o'clock in the morning , till her dropping off to sleep about noon ; when the valiant Mary , in the absence of everyone at church , took upon herself to pen a note , to catch the early Sunday post , on her own responsibility , to Lady Barbara Umfraville , to say that her little cousin was so unwell that it would be impossible to carry out the promise of bringing her home on Monday , which Mr. Wardour had written on Saturday night . Sleep considerably repaired her little ladyship ; and when she had awakened , and supped up a bason of beef-tea , toast and all , with considerable appetite , she was so much herself again , that there was no reason that anyone should be kept at home to attend to her . Mary 's absence was extremely inconvenient , as she was organist and leader of the choir . `` So , Katie dear , '' she said , when she saw her patient on her legs again , making friends with the last new kitten of the old cat , `` you will not mind being left alone , will you ?