Then she rose suddenly, all straight at once, tall and unbending, and stood still while one might have counted ten, and she opened and shut her eyes slowly, two or three times, as though she were comparing the outer world with that within her.

So Clytemnestra might have stood, before she laid her hands to the axe.
She did not mean to be alone again until all was over.

It would be easier then.

She would have her own bodily pain to bear.

There would be confusion in the house--doctors--screaming women--trembling men-servants--her husband's groans; for he was a coward, and would bear ill the little suffering which would help to save him.