Jelly sat with open mouth and eyes staring. The undertaker put it down to surprise.
"Medical men are used to these things, Jelly. It comes as natural to them as to us. Dr. Rane said to Clark that he would call Seeley over if he found he wanted help. I don't suppose he would want it: she was small and light, poor young lady."
Jelly found her speech. "Then they--Clark and Dobson--never saw her at all!"
"Not at all. She was in the far room. The door was close shut, and well covered besides with a sheet wet with disinfecting fluid. There was no danger, Dr. Rane assured them, so long as they did not go into the room where she lay. The men came away wishing other people would take these precautions; but then, you see, doctors understand things. He gave them each a glass of brandy-and-water too."
"And--then--nobody saw her!" persisted Jelly, as if she could not get over the fact.
"I dare say not," replied Thomas Hepburn.
"He must have hammered her down himself!" cried the amazed Jelly.
"He could do it as well as the men could. They left the nails and hammer."
"Well--it--it--seems dreadful work for a man to have to do for his wife," observed Jelly, after a pause, staring over Mr. Hepburn's head into vacancy.
"He did violence to his own feelings out of consideration to the men," said the undertaker. "And I must say it was very good of him. But, as I've observed, doctors know what's what, and how necessary it is to keep away from danger in perilous times."