"Oh, dear," said a woman standing by, "that one was in the water a long
time. I wonder if it is a girl or a boy."
Miss Panney said nothing, but made a few quick steps in the direction of
the limp figure which the crowd was following up the beach; then she
stopped. Her nature prompted her to go on; her present feelings
restrained her. She could not help wondering at this, and said to herself
that she must be aging faster than she thought. Her distant vision was
excellent, and she knew that the inanimate form which was now being laid
on the dry sand was not a boy.
She turned and looked out over the sea, but she could not stand still;
she must do something. On occasions like this it was absolutely necessary
for Miss Panney to do something. She walked up the beach, but not toward
the ring of people that had now formed around the fourth unfortunate. She
must quiet herself a little first.
Suddenly the old lady raised her hands and clasped them. It was a usual
gesture when she thought of something she ought to do.
"If it is one of them," she said to herself, "he ought to know it
instantly! And even if it isn't, he ought to know.
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