No man can go through a period of four days of absolute negation of life without being weakened by it somehow.
As the hours crept by, the time passed more and more slowly.

The other men seemed to get unconsciously a little drowsy.

I wondered if in the case of Mr.Trelawny and Mr.Corbeck, who had already been under the hypnotic influence of the Queen, the same dormance was manifesting itself.

Doctor Winchester had periods of distraction which grew longer and more frequent as the time wore on.
As to Margaret, the suspense told on her exceedingly, as might have been expected in the case of a woman.

She grew paler and paler still; till at last about midnight, I began to be seriously alarmed about her.
I got her to come into the library with me, and tried to make her lie down on a sofa for a little while.