George felt more violently shocked than he had anticipated. "Is it possible...?" he exclaimed.
"Yes," said Heinrich. "She drowned herself in the lake—where you spent a few days this summer," he added in a tone which seemed to imply that George too was somehow partly responsible for what had happened.
"What's in the telegram?" inquired George.
"It's from the manager. It contains the news that she has had a fatal accident while out boating. Requests her mother to give further directions."
He spoke in a cool hard voice, as though he were reading an announcement out of a paper.
"That poor woman! I say, Heinrich, oughtn't you to...."
"What!... Go to her? What should I be doing there?"
"Who is there, except you, who can at a time like this stand by her ... ought to, in fact?"
"Who except me?" He remained standing. "You think that because it happened more or less on my account? I tell you positively that I feel absolutely innocent. The boat out of which she let herself drop, and the waves which received her could not feel more innocent than I do. I just want to settle that point.... But that I should go in and see the mother.... Yes, you are quite right about it." And he turned again in the direction of the house.
"I will remain with you if you like," said George.