twelve o'clock
He struck a light . Lance was in a high fever , which increased as the morning grew . Now , whether he had the sickness latent within him when he came from Barbary , or whether his anxieties and corpulent habit made him an easy victim to disease , neither the doctor nor any one else could determine . But at twelve o'clock that day Lance was seized with an attack of cholera and by three in the afternoon he was dead . The suddenness of the catastrophe shocked Mr. Mitchelbourne inexpressibly . He stood gazing at the still features of the man whom fear had , during these last days , so grievously tormented , and was solemnly aware of the vanity of those fears . He could not pretend to any great esteem for his companion , but he made many suitable reflections upon the shears of the Fates and the tenacity of life , in which melancholy occupation he was interrupted by the doctor , who pointed out the necessity of immediate burial .