Certainly the pain was intense.
The rain was still battering on the roof with a sound like the violent jingling together of tin cans, She listened to it with a dull wonder.

The violence of it would have made a deeper impression upon her had she been suffering less.

But she felt as one immersed in an evil dream which clogged all her senses save that of pain.
When Burke returned she was lying with closed eyes, striving hard to keep herself under control.

The clatter of the rain had abated somewhat, and she heard him speak over his shoulder to someone behind him.

She looked up and saw an old Kaffir woman carrying a basin.
"This is Mary Ann," said Burke, intercepting her glance of surprise.