about four in the afternoon
`` It is not much , '' said he ; `` but I 'll send the doctor over from the town . '' He did so , and himself proceeded up to London . The doctor came , and finding the boy labored in breathing , administered a full dose of ipecacuanha . This relieved the child for the time ; but about four in the afternoon he was distressed again , and began to cough with a peculiar grating sound . Then there was a cry of dismay -- `` The croup ! '' The doctor was gone for , and a letter posted to Richard Bassett , urging him to come back directly . The doctor tried everything , even mercury , but could not check the fatal discharge ; it stiffened into a still more fatal membrane .