four o'clock
Supervening upon her ordinary cardiac attack after supper , Mrs. Maldon had had , in the night , an embolus in one artery of the brain . The way in which the doctor announced the fact showed to Rachel that nothing could easily have been more serious . And yet the mere naming of the affliction eased her , although she had no conception of what an embolus might be . Dr. Yardley had remained until four o'clock , when Mrs. Maldon , surprisingly convalescent , dropped off to sleep . He remarked that she might recover . At eight o'clock he had come back . Mrs. Maldon was awake , but had apparently no proper recollection of the events of the night , which even to Rachel had begun to seem unreal , like a waning hallucination .