ten o'clock
Her husband must have left the house , then -- her _ husband ? _ She no longer knew in what terms to think : the simplest phrases had a poisoned edge . She sank back into her chair , overcome by a strange weakness . The clock struck ten -- it was only ten o'clock ! Suddenly she remembered that she had not ordered dinner ... or were they dining out that evening ? _ Dinner -- dining out _ -- the old meaningless phraseology pursued her ! She must try to think of herself as she would think of some one else , a some one dissociated from all the familiar routine of the past , whose wants and habits must gradually be learned , as one might spy out the ways of a strange animal ... The clock struck another hour -- eleven .