midnight
Her frugal meal was soon finished , and then the children were put to bed . After laying away their clothes , and setting back the table from which their supper had been eaten , Mrs. Gaston seated herself by the already nearly half burned penny candle , whose dim light scarcely enabled her failing eyesight to discern the edges of the dark cloth upon which she was working , and composed herself to her task . Hour after hour she toiled on , weary and aching in every limb . But she remitted not her labors until long after midnight , and then not until her last candle had burned away to the socket in which it rested . Then she put aside her work with a sigh , as she reflected upon the slow progress she had made , and , disrobing herself , laid her over-wearied body beside that of her sick child . Ella was asleep ; but her breathing was hard , and her mother perceived , upon laying her hand upon her face , that her fever had greatly increased . But she knew no means of alleviation , and therefore did not attempt any .