A few minutes before eight o’clock
But she was the better able to bear them because of that well-remembered past when a bath-room was in itself a luxury pined for -- days when a not-large and not-full can of not-hot water , slammed down at her bedroom door by a governess-resenting housemaid , was as much as the gods allowed her . And there was , to dulcify for her the bath of this evening , the yet sharper contrast with the plight she had just come home in , sopped , shivering , clung to by her clothes . Because this bath was not a mere luxury , but a necessary precaution , a sure means of salvation from chill , she did the more gratefully bask in it , till Melisande came back to her , laden with warmed towels . A few minutes before eight o'clock she was fully ready to go down to dinner , with even more than the usual glow of health , and hungry beyond her wont . Yet , as she went down , her heart somewhat misgave her . Indeed , by force of the wide experience she had had as a governess , she never did feel quite at her ease when she was staying in a private house : the fear of not giving satisfaction haunted her ; she was always on her guard ; the shadow of dismissal absurdly hovered . And to-night she could not tell herself , as she usually did , not to be so silly .