"Go on! Go on!" Mrs.De Peyster had slowly turned a dazed countenance upward and was gazing at the sober, plausible face of her young man of the sea.
"Mrs.De Peyster did not learn of what had happened till the day the supposed Mrs.De Peyster was started homeward.

The most sensible thing for her to have done would have been to declare the mistake, and saved her family and friends a great deal of grief.

But the shock completely unbalanced her.

I will not attempt to describe her psychological processes or explain her actions.

You may call her course illogical, hysterical, what you like; I do not seek to defend it; I am only trying to give you the facts.