Midday
It was some church bell tolling the hour . My pleasing fancies dispersed -- I again faced the drear reality of my position . Twelve o'clock ! Midday or midnight ? I could not tell . I began to calculate . It was early morning when I had been taken ill -- not much past eight when I had met the monk and sought his assistance for the poor little fruit-seller who had after all perished alone in his sufferings .