"He is dead!" he announced.
"Dead!" repeated Mrs. Kent, in a voice rather of surprise than of sorrow.
"Yes."
"Well," she said, coolly, "we must all die. We have the satisfaction of knowing that we have done all we could do to preserve his life."
"Certainly, my dear madam; you may comfort yourself by that thought," said the physician.
"Why did you not send for me before?" asked Jasper, turning with moist eyes to his step-mother, "that I might see my father before he died?"
"We could not foresee his sudden death," said Mrs. Kent. "How do you happen to be here this afternoon?"
"Didn't you direct Margaret to telegraph for me?" asked Jasper, surprised.
"Did Margaret take upon herself to telegraph to you?" asked Mrs. Kent, in a tone of displeasure.
"Yes," said Jasper, bitterly. "Did you mean to keep me wholly unacquainted with my father's illness?"