noon
All this Morris had communicated to Katy , who listened in a kind of stupor , gasping for breath , when she heard that Wilford would so soon be there , and moaning `` that will be too late , '' when told that the baptism could not take place till night . Then , kneeling by the crib where the child was lying , she fastened her great , sad blue eyes upon the pallid face with an earnestness as if thus she would hold till nightfall the life flickering so faintly and seeming so nearly finished . The wailings had ceased , and they no longer carried it within their arms , but had placed it in its crib , where it lay perfectly still , save as its eyes occasionally unclosed and turned wistfully toward the cups , where it knew was something which quenched its raging thirst . Once , indeed , as the hours crept on to noon and Katy bent over it so that her curls swept its face , it seemed to know her , and the little wasted hand was for a moment uplifted and rested on her cheek with the same caressing motion it had been wont to use in health . Then hope whispered that it might live , and with a great cry of joy Katy sobbed : `` She knows me , Morris -- mother , see ; she knows me . Maybe she will live . '' But the dull stupor which succeeded to that act swept all hope away , and again Katy resumed her post , watching first her dying child , and then the long hands of the clock which crept on so slowly , pointing to only two when she thought it must be five .