nearly three o'clock in the morning
Lady Audley confessed herself terribly frightened of the lightning . She had her bedstead wheeled into a corner of the room , and with the heavy curtains drawn tightly round her , she lay with her face buried in the pillow , shuddering convulsively at every sound of the tempest without . Sir Michael , whose stout heart had never known a fear , almost trembled for this fragile creature , whom it was his happy privilege to protect and defend . My lady would not consent to undress till nearly three o'clock in the morning , when the last lingering peal of thunder had died away among the distant hills . Until that hour she lay in the handsome silk dress in which she had traveled , huddled together among the bedclothes , only looking up now and then with a scared face to ask if the storm was over . Toward four o'clock her husband , who spent the night in watching by her bedside , saw her drop off into a deep sleep , from which she did not awake for nearly five hours . But she came into the breakfast-room , at half-past nine o'clock , singing a little Scotch melody , her cheeks tinged with as delicate a pink as the pale hue of her muslin morning dress .