Sentence:  As she looked in the mirror over the fireplace that she might settle her hat-pin straight, she noticed that in touching the china dog she had disturbed the mantle cloth, and in so doing had exposed her hoard of pawn-tickets. Thanks be to God I noticed that, had anyone come in I'd have <WSD>died a thousand deaths</WSD>. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To suffer repeatedly ("often mentally rather than physically"); to suffer extreme embarrassment or anxiety.