noon
The poor young man , and indeed all the family , are in the utmost distress , and truly there were circumstances that render the event more than usually deplorable , and for which he blames himself exceedingly , even to despair . It appears that the poor young gentlewoman wished to add some trifle to the numerous commissions with which she was entrusting you on the night of the bonfire , and that she could not be pacified except by her husband undertaking to ride over to give the patterns and the orders to you before your setting forth . You said nothing of having seen him -- nor do I see how it was possible that you could have done so , seeing that you only left your chamber just before the breakfast that you never tasted , my poor child . He never returned till long after noon , and what with fretting after him , and disappointment , that happened which Lady Archfield had always apprehended , and the poor fragile young creature worked herself into a state which ended before midnight in the birth of a puny babe , and her own death shortly after . She wanted two months of completing her sixteenth year , and was of so frail a constitution that Dr. Brown had never much hope of her surviving the birth of her child . It was a cruel thing to marry her thus early , ungrown in body or mind , but she had no one to care for her before she was brought hither . The blame , as I tell Sir Philip , and would fain persuade poor Charles , is really with those who bred her up so uncontrolled as to be the victim of her humours ; but the unhappy youth will listen to no consolation .