Could it be only six weeks?
A lifetime of anguish appeared to have rolled between.

And where was she?
Then, for the first time, the crust of his self-absorption seemed to crumble, and he thought with new stabs of pain how she, too, must have suffered.

He began to picture her waiting by the gate--she would be brave and quiet.

And then, as the day passed--what had she done?
He could not imagine, but she must have suffered intolerably.

When could she have heard of the accident, since the next day she had been taken away?
Why had she gone?
That was unlike her, to have given in to any force which could separate them.