two
o'clock in the afternoon
Then the priest took off an outer cloak , revealing his white surplice and violet stole , and followed the candles into the Countess 's room . The little card-table had been covered with a damask napkin and laid out as an altar . All the dainty articles of the dying woman 's dressing-table , her scent-flasks , rouge pots and puffs , were huddled together with various medicine bottles on a chest of drawers at the back . It was two o'clock in the afternoon and the sun was shining , so the curtains were drawn and the shutters closed . In the darkened room the candles burned like stars . The ghostly viaticum being over , the priest and his assistants left the house . But the pale , grinning shadow of death continued to stand by the perfumed couch .