"It is horrible," cried the agitated woman, as she let herself fall into an arm-chair.
He answered only by a sorrowful gesture of the hand.
"Do you know the particulars?"
"A bullet through the head. The night of day before yesterday. In the dressing-room beside the chamber where his wife was lying."
A pause ensued. Then Else, raising her tearful eyes to the doctor, said:
"You see, you see, this marriage was his destruction. He would be alive and happy to-day, if he had had me at his side."
"Or me," said Thiel.
Else shook her head. "No, no. He wanted this last romance too late."
"Or despaired too soon," replied Thiel, gazing thoughtfully at the bronze statuette of Asclepius, which stood on the writing-desk before him.