About eleven o'clock
Mistress Margaret hastened up at midnight from the Dower House , and a groom galloped off to Lindfield before morning to fetch the doctor , and another to fetch Mr. Barnes , the priest , from Cuckfield . Sir Nicholas was bled to reduce the fever of the pneumonia that had attacked him . All day long he was sinking . About eleven o'clock that night he fell asleep , apparently , and Lady Maxwell , who had watched incessantly , was persuaded to lie down ; but at three o'clock in the morning , on the first of December , Mistress Margaret awakened her , and together they knelt by the bedside of the old man . The priest , who had anointed him on the previous evening , knelt behind , repeating the prayers for the dying . Sir Nicholas lay on his back , supported by pillows , under the gloom of the black old four-posted bed . A wood-fire glowed on the hearth , and the air was fragrant with the scent of the burning cedar-logs .