about midnight
`` I have lost this battle , '' she said to herself , and she wisely retreated to her own room , and had a nominal headache , and a very genuine heartache about the loss . All day long Sophy was at an unnatural pitch , all day long she exerted herself , as she had not done for weeks and months , to entertain and keep her husband at her side , and all day long her pretty wifely triumph was bright and unbroken . The very servants took a delight in ministering to it , and Madame was not missed in a single item of the household routine . But about midnight there was a great and sudden change . Bells were frantically rung , lights flew about the house , and there was saddling of horses and riding in hot haste into Largo for any or all the doctors that could be found . Then Madame came quietly from her seclusion , and resumed her place as head of the household , for the little mistress of one day lay in her chamber quite unconscious of her lost authority . Some twelve hours later , the hoped-for heir of Braelands was born , and died , and Sophy , on the very outermost shoal of life , felt the wash and murmur of that dark river which flows to the Eternal Sea .