seven o'clock
Folk with a headache see life quite out of focus ; and at the moment it really would have been a comfort to Flint to know that this mocking maid had been drowned , or struck by lightning , or in any fashion disabled from repeating the story of his discomfiture . He writhed and twisted , and at last fell asleep , still alternately vowing never to forgive , and never to give her another thought . In the morning when he woke , free from pain and , except for a certain languor , quite himself again , he wondered at his childishness of the night before , though in spite of reason a certain sub-conscious resentment lingered still . At seven o'clock Matilda Marsden knocked at his door and gave warning that the breakfast-hour drew near . `` I say , '' he called in response , `` will you please send some one with a pitcher of hot water ? I 'll have my breakfast in bed . '' Flint knew perfectly well that she would bring the water herself ; but it was necessary to keep up the fiction of intermediate agency in deference to her position .