might—­indeed, would—­have proved that the alarm had in fact gone off.  It became with her an article of dogma that on that particular morning, of all mornings, the very reliable alarm-clock had failed in its duty.  The truth was that she had lain awake till nearly three o’clock, turning from side to side and thinking bitterly upon the imperfections of human nature, and had then fallen into a deep, invigorating sleep from which perhaps half a dozen alarm-clocks might not have roused her.

She arose full of health and anger, and in a few minutes she was out of the bedroom, for she had not fully undressed; like many women, when there was watching to be done, she loved to keep her armour on and to feel the exciting strain of the unusual in every movement.  She fell on Mrs. Tams as Mrs. Tams was coming upstairs after letting out the doctor and refreshing herself with cocoa in the kitchen.  A careless observer might have thought from their respective attitudes that it was Mrs. Tarns, and not Rachel, who had overslept herself.  Rachel divided the blame between the alarm-clock and Mrs. Tams for not wakening her; indeed, she seemed to consider herself the victim of a conspiracy between Mrs. Tams and the alarm-clock.  She explicitly blamed Mrs. Tams for allowing the doctor to come and go without her knowledge.  Even the doctor did not get off scot-free, for he ought to have asked for Rachel and insisted on seeing her.

She examined Mrs. Tams about the invalid’s health as a lawyer examines a hostile witness.  And when Mrs. Tams said that the invalid had slept, and was sleeping, stertorously in an unaccountable manner, and hinted that the doctor was not undisturbed by the new symptom and meant to call again later on, Rachel’s tight-lipped mien indicated that this might not have occurred if only Mrs. Tams had fulfilled her obvious duty of wakening Rachel.  Though she was hungry, she scornfully repulsed the suggestion of breakfast.  Mrs. Tams, thoroughly accustomed to such behaviour in the mighty, accepted it as she accepted the weather.  But if she had had to live through the night again—­after all, a quite tolerable night—­she would still not have wakened Rachel at 4 a.m.

Rachel softened as the day passed.  She ate a good dinner at one o’clock, with Mrs. Tams in the kitchen, one or the other mounting at short intervals to see if Mrs. Maldon had stirred.  Then she changed into her second-best frock, in anticipation of the doctor’s Sunday afternoon visit, strictly commanded Mrs. Tams (but with relenting kindness in her voice) to go and lie down, and established herself neatly in the sick-room.