5
They were both in the drawing-room when he returned.
"I've written to Roger," he said, to explain his absence. "Perhaps," he went on, "there are other letters you'd like me to write?"
"Yes," she said, "it would be kind of you, Henry!..."
There was Ninian's uncle, the Dean of Exebury, and Mr. Hare, with whom he had worked ... they must be told at once ... and there were other relatives, other friends. He spent the evening in doing the little services that must be done when there is death, and found relief for his mind in doing them.
"I told the servants," he said, looking up from a letter he was writing. "Old Widger wanted to see you!..."
"Poor Widger," she said. "He and Ninian were so fond of each other!"
She got up and went to the door. "I must go and say something to him," she said. "He'll feel it so much!"
She closed the door behind her, and he sat staring at it after she had gone. The matchless pride of her, that she could forget herself so completely and think of the subordinate sorrow of her servant when she might have been absorbed by her own!
He turned to Mary who was sitting near him, and reached out and took her hand in his, but neither of them spoke.