"she could sew the veil on properly in the morning", according to this sentence,"in the morning" doesn't mean "this morning", then, when was she expected to finish her sewing?

When the 'focus' or particular point of time referred to in the statement is any time of day after waking (even when it is 'now' still morning), "in the morning" usually indicates the morning immediately following the next sleep period. 'Could' here represents an optional action or an ability to do something in the future without the obligation of doing it immediately. Without knowing the context of the sentence, it is difficult to say whether the mood is subjunctive or, strictly speaking, optative. 'Could' is normally the past tense of 'to be able to' ('can' and 'could' are residual parts of an extinct verb). Since the subject of the verb is 'She', it would usually be assumed that this is a relation of events that happened in the past, making the mood indicative. It would usually be assumed, in other words, that, if the lady were to express her own thoughts at that point, she would have said "I can sew the veil on properly in the morning." To try to clarify the difference between the tenses and moods in English, compare these sentences: "I can sew the veil on properly in the morning." - Present, Indicative ( = "I am able to defer the proper sewing on of the veil and will do so") The emphasis is on the deferral of the job. "I could sew the veil on properly in the morning." - Present, Conditional (= "It might be possible/easier to complete the job properly later") The emphasis may be (a) on completing the job properly or (b) if the statement were followed by "but I will do it now", on the feasibility or available choice of doing it later. "Oh that [If only] I could sew the veil on properly!" - Past, Optative Note that the last sentence is identical with: "Oh, that I were able to sew the veil on properly!" which makes it clearer that it is actually in the past tense (referring to an ability which would have to have already been learned in order to fulfil the wish). "I must take care that I sew the veil on properly in the morning!" - "I sew" is, potentially, Present, Subjunctive Note that I have to say "potentially" because "I sew" looks as though it could be a present indicative. It would be clearer that it was actually in the subjunctive if the sentence were in the third person singular: "She must take care that she sew the veil on properly in the morning!" Many English speakers would think that sounds "odd", "old-fashioned" or even "incorrect" and would prefer "that she sews". There is evidence that the tenses in each mood were more clearly defined in older Indo-European languages but that the many different forms are being actively lost in English so that the subjunctive mood, in particular, is quite difficult to identify. Forms such as "... that I be ..." and "... if he were ..." are often the only remnants and are almost idiomatic rather than being perceived to be in a different mood. _______________________________________________________ I leave you to puzzle over the moods and tenses involved in my sentence: "It would be clearer that it was actually in the subjunctive if the sentence were in the third person singular."

It depends on the context (the reason why the New Living Testament Bible is written phrase-by-phrase for the most part: because much of the meaning is held in the context). It sounds like 'she decided not to finish the veil now, because "she could finish it properly in the morning."'