"Wot the devil's this?"cried Jonah.
The man turned and pointed to the huddled heap at the foot of the stairs.
"It's yer missis.She fell from the top.'Er face is looking the wrong way."Jonah ran forward and shouted for a doctor.Then he knelt down and tried to lift Ada into a sitting posture,but her head sagged on one side.And Jonah realized suddenly,with a curious feeling of detachment,that he was free.When the doctor arrived,he told them that death had been instantaneous,as she had broken her neck in the fall.
The next day the "Silver Shoe"was closed on account of the funeral.The Grimes family sent a wreath,but Jonah looked in vain for Clara among the mourners.He was disappointed but relieved,fearing that the exultation in his heart would betray him in the presence of strangers.He dwelt with rapture on the moment in which he would meet her face to face,free to love and be loved,willing to lose some precious hours for the sake of rehearsing schemes for the future in his mind.He listened without emotion to the conventional regrets of the mourners,agreeing mechanically with their empty remarks on his great loss,a mocking devil in his brain.