the hour of nine
But before she had come down to the breakfast room where her husband was reading a newspaper in the morning , she had thought a good deal upon another matter that disquieted her in some degree . She had been exuberant -LRB- she thought -RRB- at having had sufficient strength given to her to run away from her lover ; but then she had not dwelt upon the rather important circumstance that all the running away had not been on her side . What were the facts as revealed by the narrative of Mr. Ayrton ? Why , simply , that while she was putting on that supreme toilet which she had prepared for the delight of the eyes of her lover -LRB- feeling herself to be a modern Cleopatra -RRB- , that lover of hers was sitting on the cushions of a first-class carriage , flying along to Southampton ; and while she had been lying among the cushions of her drawing room , waiting tremulously , nervously , ecstatically , for the dreary minutes to crawl on until the clock should chime the hour of nine , he was probably lighting his first pipe aboard the yacht _ Water Nymph _ . What did it matter that she had lifted her hot face from her cushions and had fled in wild haste to the arms of Phyllis Ayrton ? The fact remained the same ; it was he who had run away from her . That was a terrible reflection .