about four in the morning
`` Yes , '' said I ; `` and her end was one of the most beautiful I ever saw . The Duke and I had spent the night by the dying woman 's pillow ; pulmonary consumption , in the last stage , left no hope ; she had taken the sacrament the day before . The Duke had fallen asleep . The Duchess , waking at about four in the morning , signed to me in the most touching way , with a friendly smile , to bid me leave him to rest , and she meanwhile was about to die . She had become incredibly thin , but her face had preserved its really sublime outline and features . Her pallor made her skin look like porcelain with a light within . Her bright eyes and color contrasted with this languidly elegant complexion , and her countenance was full of expressive calm .