seven o'clock
I am only tired out , too tired to think about what is to follow . If I live three days longer I shall have just had my forty years in the wilderness , and though it has blossomed like a rose , I am glad to be near the rest . ' And then he asked for the Midnight Office ; and afterwards came fitful sleep , half dreamy , half broken by the wanderings of slight feverishness and great weakness ; but she thought her attendance would not be very brief , and agreed mentally with what Mr. Audley had told her , that the doctor said that the end might yet be many weeks away . When in the dark winter 's morning the wife crept back again to her post , and all that could be done in those early hours had been effected , Sister Constance went to the half-past seven o'clock service with Felix and Clement , imparting to them on the road that the Superior of St. Faith 's was expecting to receive some of the least of the children in the course of the day , to remain there for the present . Both boys declared it would be an infinite relief , but they doubted exceedingly whether either father or mother would consent to lose sight of them , since the former never failed to see each child , and give it a smile and kiss , if no more . If they were to be sent , Felix supposed there was no one but himself to take them ; nobody with whom they would be happy could be spared , nor did he show any repugnance to the notion of acting _ père de famille _ to three babies on the railway . It was quickly settled .