about five in the
morning
But the prodigious force with which the blow had followed on a scene of violent reproaches and insane threats -LRB- described by one of the young women -RRB- had affected most perilously a constitution already weakened by sickness and trouble . Mrs. St. John Deloraine , assisted by the most responsible of _ The Bun-house _ girls , announced her intention to , sit up all night with the patient . Barton -- who was moved , perhaps , as much by the beauty of the girl , and by the excitement of the events , as by professional duty -- remained in attendance till nearly dawn , when the Lady Superior insisted that he should go home and take some rest . As the danger for the patient was not immediate , but lay in the chances of fever , Barton allowed himself to be persuaded , and , at about five in the morning , he let himself out of _ The Bunhouse _ , and made sleepily for his lodgings . But sleep that night was to be a stranger to him , and his share of adventures -- which , like sorrows , never `` come as single spies , but in battalions '' -- was by no means exhausted . The night , through which the first glimpse of dawn just peered , was extremely cold ; and Barton , who had left his great-coat in the _ Hit or Miss _ , stamped his way homeward , his hands deep in his pockets , his hat tight on his head , and with his pipe for company . `` There 's the gray beginning , Zooks , '' he muttered to himself , in half-conscious quotation .