ten o'clock before
On the next day the doctor would come in the usual course of things , for she had submitted for some years back to such periodical visitings ; but she had desired that nothing might be done out of the common way . Martha , however , declared that if she were alone with her mistress the doctor would be sent for ; and she now petitioned for aid from Clara . Clara was , of course , by her aunt 's bedside in a few minutes , and in a few minutes more the doctor from the other side of the way was there also . It was ten o'clock before Captain Aylmer and Miss Amedroz met at breakfast , and they had before that been together in Mrs. Winterfield 's room . The doctor had told Captain Aylmer that his aunt was very ill -- very ill , dangerously ill . She had been wrong to go into such a place as the cold , unaired Town-hall , and that , too , in the month of November ; and the fatigue had also been too much for her . Mrs. Winterfield , too , had admitted to Clara that she knew herself to be very ill .