two o'clock in the
morning
They coiled and twisted into ugly knots . Her mother 's atmosphere was opaque , and as dismal as a November fog . There was a speck of light in the room , however , and it came , the visitor then perceived , from a single candle that stood beside the bed . The old lady had been reading ; she rarely slept before two o'clock in the morning . And at first , so disheartening , so hopeless seemed the task , that Mother wavered in her mission ; a choking , suffocating sensation blocked all her channels of delivery . The very flowers on the window - sill , she noted , drooped in a languishing decline ; they had a lifeless air as of flowers that struggle for existence in deep shadow and have never known the kiss of sunshine . Through the inch of opened window stole a soft breath of the night air , but it turned black and sluggish the moment it came in .