He's dead," he added with a sob.
The news seemed to strike the office dumb.

The clerks regarded each other like bewildered sheep, awed, terrified, a vague fear gripping their hearts.

In the midst of their furious, living activity, the specter of death had suddenly appeared.

It had crept in on them silently, stealthily, selecting the most shining mark as its victim.
Unannounced, it had proclaimed the frailty of human life more effectively than if it had revealed itself in a lightning bolt.

With noiseless, unseen hands, it had abducted the most beloved figure among them, deprived them forever of the kindly, fatherly personality of the man whom they had come to regard more as a friend than an employer.
Recovering from their first terror, the clerks left their desks and massed forward toward the partition, but the head clerk waved them back.
"Everyone remain in his place until after the police have arrived," he ordered.
The office boy, who had gone to summon a policeman, now returned with the bluecoat.