He nodded.
“Don’t tell me anything has happened to him. He only left me the day before yesterday. Is he ill?”
In her excitement she had not let go of his hand, and her fingers retained their hold.
“You must try and bear up, a terrible thing has happened. The worst that can happen.”
“You mean,” she said, her face turning pale, “that he is dead.”
“Yes,” he said.
The shock of such an announcement does not, as a rule, have the instant effect that is supposed to take place. The mind cannot at once grasp the facts. It is like a shell wound. For a moment the wounded man gazes in surprise at a stump where his arm was a moment before. It takes some seconds before realization or pain is felt.
So it was with Mabel. It was as though someone were telling her a tale of some remote happening which did not concern her.
“How was it?” she whispered.
He had expected tears, possibly a fainting fit. This calm surprised him for the moment.