About
midnight
They went out together ; but an hour later Mrs. Bellairs came back to wait , lest in the night the two who watched upstairs might want a friend at hand . The jailer 's wife sent her husband to bed , and making a bright fire , sat up with her guest as they had previously agreed . Night wore on , however , and all remained still and undisturbed . About midnight Christian 's doze deepened into a sound sleep , and Lucia too , sitting in the warmth of the store , slept in spite of herself . For nearly an hour the room was so still that Mrs. Costello could count every tick of her watch , and every change in the flickering sound of the wood fire . _ She _ had no inclination to sleep . For this one hour she felt herself a wife like other wives -- a wife and mother , -- watching her husband and her child .