the hour of one
she said piteously to the corpse . ` Why not have died in your own cottage if you would die ! Then nobody would ever have known of our imprudent union , and no syllable would have been breathed of how I mismated myself for love of you ! ' The clock in the courtyard striking the hour of one aroused Lady Caroline from the stupor into which she had fallen , and she stood up , and went towards the door . To awaken and tell her mother seemed her only way out of this terrible situation ; yet when she put her hand on the key to unlock it she withdrew herself again . It would be impossible to call even her mother 's assistance without risking a revelation to all the world through the servants ; while if she could remove the body unassisted to a distance she might avert suspicion of their union even now . This thought of immunity from the social consequences of her rash act , of renewed freedom , was indubitably a relief to her , for , as has been said , the constraint and riskiness of her position had begun to tell upon the Lady Caroline 's nerves .