"Don't, auntie! Don't say it! Yes, yes, he was taken to the hospital, and died of his injuries. But don't speak of his terrible mutilations. I--I can't bear it."
Again Joan buried her face in her hands as though to shut out the horror of it all. But the elder woman had no such scruples.
"Why harrow yourself with the picture?" she demanded brusquely. "Imagination can add nothing to the fact. Tears will not change one detail. They will only add to your distress. Dick Sorley left your side to go to certain death. Nothing could have averted that. Such was his fate--through you."