midday
`` My brother took nearly a box of them , and according to his account it was only good they did him . '' When Eutrope departed he left the box of pills ; the sick woman had not yet agreed to try them , but her objections grew weaker with their urging . In the middle of the night she took a couple , and two more in the morning , and as the hours passed they all waited in confidence for the virtue of the medicine to declare itself . But toward midday they had to bow to the facts : she was no easier and did not cease her moaning . By evening the box was empty , and at the falling of the night her groans were filling the household with anguished distress , all the keener as they had no medicine now in which to place their trust . Maria was up several times in the night , aroused by her mother 's more piercing cries ; she always found her lying motionless on her side , and this position seemed to increase the suffering and the stiffness , so that her groans were pitiful to hear . `` What ails you , mother ?