ten o'clock
Manuel 's sisters came from time to time , but neither brought the money necessary to the purchase of the medicines and the food that were prescribed by the doctor . One Sunday , toward night , Petra took a turn for the worse ; during the afternoon she had been conversing spiritedly with her daughters ; but this animation had subsided until she was overwhelmed by a mortal collapse . That Sunday night Doña Casiana 's lodgers had an unusually succulent supper , and after the supper several ronquillas for dessert , watered by the purest concoction of the Prussian distilleries . The spree was still in progress at ten o'clock . Petra said to Manuel : `` Call Don Jacinto and tell him that I 'm worse . '' Manuel went to the dining-room . He could barely make out the congested faces through the thick tobacco smoke that filled the atmosphere .