i'm sorry to have a rose-tinted goggles in such a time but,
With me he was warm as ever,
but he took my arm and led me in, saying huskily:—
"You loved her too, old fellow; she told me all about it, and there was no friend had a closer place in her heart than you. I don't know how to thank you for all you have done for her. I can't think yet...."
Here he suddenly broke down, and threw his arms round my shoulders and laid his head on my breast, crying:—
"Oh, Jack! Jack! What shall I do! The whole of life seems gone from me all at once, and there is nothing in the wide world for me to live for."
I comforted him as well as I could. In such cases men do not need much expression. A grip of the hand, the tightening of an arm over the shoulder, a sob in unison, are expressions of sympathy dear to a man's heart. I stood still and silent till his sobs died away, and then I said softly to him:—
Together we moved over to the bed,
I slept on a sofa in Arthur's room that night.