About three in the morning
They carried him to the Priory , and there Emlyn , having felt his heart and found that it still beat , though faintly , sent Mother Matilda to fetch some of that Portugal wine of hers which Commissioner Legh had praised . Spoonful by spoonful she poured it down his throat , till at length he opened his eyes , though only to shut them again in natural sleep , for the wine had taken a hold of his starved body and weakened brain . For hour after hour Cicely sat by him , only rising from time to time to watch the burning of the great Abbey church , as once she had watched that of its dormers and farm-steading . About three in the morning the lead ceased to pour down in a silvery molten shower , its roofs fell in , and by dawn it was nothing but a fire-blackened shell much as it remains to-day . Just before daybreak Emlyn came to her , saying -- `` There is one who would speak with you . '' `` I can not see him , '' she answered , `` I bide by my husband . '' `` Yet you should , '' said Emlyn , `` since but for him you would now have no husband .