about two o'clock in the
morning
The physicians had expressed their opinion that the admiral might linger for many days , and the vicar thought that advantage might be derived from his being left for a short time to his own reflections , and to recover from the state of exhaustion arising from the communications of the preceding evening . When he arrived at the hall the windows were closed -- Admiral De Courcy was no more . Reader , you shall hear how he died . It was about two o'clock in the morning that he awoke from an uneasy slumber , and felt his end approaching . The old crone who had been hired as a nurse to watch at night , was fast asleep in her chair . The rushlight had burned low down in the socket , and , through the interstices of its pierced shade , threw a feeble and alternate light and shadow over the room . The mouth of the dying man was glued together from internal heat , and he suffered from agonising thirst .