The song stopped abruptly. The ladies rushed into the garden. The friend poured a few drops of eau de Cologne which she held in her hand, on the face of the prostrate man.
When she realised that it was no fainting fit, she started back. “Horrible!” she exclaimed, putting her hand up to her face.
The elder of the two men, who was stooping over; the dead body, looked up.
“Be silent, woman!” he exclaimed.
“What a brute!” said the friend.
The dead man’s wife fainted, but was caught in the arms of her friend and tenderly nursed by the rest of the women.
“Send for a doctor!” shouted the elder of the two men. “Run!”
Nobody took any notice; everybody was busy with the unconscious wife.
“To bring such grief on his wife! Oh! what a man! What a man!” sobbed the friend.
“Has no one a thought for the dying man? All this’ fuss because a woman has fainted! Give her some brandy, that will revive her!”