about two o'clock in the
morning
Other guns were heard . Yet amidst all this wild alarm there was nothing which had so tremendous an effect upon Dacres as this last remark of Mrs. Willoughby 's . -LSB- Illustration : `` THE PRIEST FLUNG HIMSELF FORWARD . '' -RSB- When the Irish priest conjectured that it was about two o'clock in the morning he was not very far astray in his calculation . The short remarks that were exchanged between him and Ethel , and afterward between him and the men , were followed by a profound silence . Ethel sat by the side of the priest , with her head bent forward and her eyes closed as though she were asleep ; yet sleep was farther from her than ever it had been , and the thrilling events of the night afforded sufficient material to keep her awake for many a long hour yet to come . Her mind was now filled with a thousand conflicting and most exciting fancies , in the midst of which she might again have sunk into despair had she not been sustained by the assurance of the priest .