She kept silence.

"Of a passenger drowned--out of that ship. This, coupled with his
silence, fills our hearts with fear."

"It is worse--you are breaking it to me--you have gone too far to stop.
One word: is he alive? Oh, say he is alive!"

Philip rang the bell hard, and said in a troubled voice, "Rosa, think of
your child."

"Not when my husband--Is he alive or dead?"

"It is hard to say, with such a terrible report about, and no letters,"
faltered the old man, his courage failing him.

"What are you afraid of? Do you think I can't die, and go to him? Alive,
or dead?" and she stood before him, raging and quivering in every limb.

The nurse came in.

"Fetch her child," he cried; "God have mercy on her."

"Ah, then he is dead," said she, with stony calmness. "I drove him to
sea, and he is dead."

The nurse rushed in, and held the child to her.

She would not look at it.