Unconsciously he shook his head and raised a hand--as if to warn the man against noise.
"Sh!" he said, still acting and speaking mechanically.

"Here's--I knew something was wrong.

The fact is, my cousin's dead!" In his surprise the night-porter dropped the key which he had been to fetch.

When he straightened himself from picking it up, his ruddy face had paled.
"Dead!" he exclaimed in a whisper.

"Him! Why, he looked the picture of health last night.