4 o'clock in the morning
I forgot to give you intelligence of poor Henry ; his state of health is better , and no longer gives us such anxiety . His excellent father , himself ill , has recovered strength to take care of Henry , to watch over him ; a miracle of paternal love -- which does not astonish us -- the rest of us . Thus , my dear friend , to-morrow -- to-morrow -- fatal and unpropitious day for me . Yours forever , R. Abbey of St. Hermangilda , 4 o'clock in the morning . Calm yourself , dear Clémence , calm yourself ; although the hour in which I write this letter , and the place whence it is dated , might alarm you . Thanks to Heaven , the danger is past , but the crisis was terrible . Yesterday , after having written to you , agitated by a fatal presentiment , in recalling to myself the paleness and appearance of suffering in my daughter , the state of weakness in which she had languished for some time , remembering , in short , that she was to pass in prayer , in a large , icy-cold church , almost all the night before her profession , I sent Murphy and David to the abbey to ask the Princess Juliana to permit them to remain , until to-morrow , in the outer house which Henry usually inhabited .