She did not get up until late. Being amenable to no one whilst Mrs. Cumberland was away, the house's mistress in fact, as well as Dinah's, Jelly did not hurry herself. She was not lazy in general, especially on a Saturday, but as she felt tired after her weary afternoon at Ketler's and from having gone so late to rest. Breakfast was ready in the kitchen when she went down; Dinah--a red-faced young woman in a brown-spotted cotton gown--being busy at the fire with the coffee. "Now then!" began Jelly--her favourite phrase when she was angry. "What have you to say for yourself? Whereabouts on the slab did you put those matches last night?" Dinah, taken-to, tilted the kettle back. Until that moment she had not thought of her negligence. "I'm afraid I never put 'em at all," she said. "No you _didn't_ put 'em," retorted Jelly with sharp emphasis. "But for having matches and a candle in my room, I must have undressed in the dark. And I should like to know why you didn't put 'em; and what you were about not to do it?" "I'm sure I'm sorry," said Dinah, who was a tractable sort of girl. "I forgot it, I suppose, in the upset about poor Mrs. Rane." "In the upset about poor Mrs. Rane," scornfully repeated Jelly. "What upset you, pray, about her?--And you've never been out to fasten back the shutters!" "She's dead," answered Dinah--and the tears came into the girl's eyes. "That's what I've got the shutters half-to for. I thought you'd most likely not have heard it." A little confusion arose in Jelly's mind. Thought is rapid. Mrs. Rane's death, as she supposed, could not possibly have occurred before morning: the neglect, as to the matches, was last night. But, in the present shock she passed this over. Her sharp tone disappeared as by magic: her expression changed to sadness. "Dead? When did she die, Dinah?" "It was about nine o'clock last night, they think. And she lay an hour after that in her bed, Jelly, before it was found out." On hearing this, Jelly's first impression was that Dinah must be trifling with her. The girl came from the fire with the coffee, the tears visible. "Now what d'ye mean, girl? Mrs. Rane didn't die last night--as I can answer for." "Oh but she did, Jelly. Dr. Rane went up to her at ten o'clock--he had been out till then--and found her dead. I can tell you, I didn't half like going all the way up to bed by myself to that top floor, and me alone in the house, knowing she was lying there at the very next door." Jelly paused to take in the full sense of the words, staring the while at Dinah. What could it all mean? "You must have taken leave of your senses," she said, as she began to pour out the coffee. "I'm sure I've not," returned Dinah. "Why?" "To tell me Mrs. Rane died last night. How did you pick up the tale?"