She was standing there when John Abner came in from milking and joined her. "Poor devil," he said. "I suppose it's the best thing that could have happened."
"Yes, it's the best thing."
"Is there anybody we'd better get a message to?"
"No one I can remember. He had lost all his friends."
"Has the doctor been here?"
"Not yet, but Fluvanna telephoned for him."
"Then we might as well have the funeral to-morrow. There is no reason to postpone it. He's been dying for months."
Yes, he had been dying for months; yet, she realized now, his death had come to her with a shock. Though the moment had been approaching so long, she felt that it had taken her by surprise, that she had not had sufficient time to prepare.
"Of course, it isn't as if we could be expected to feel it," John Abner said, reasonably enough, and she repeated vacantly: "No, of course it isn't."