‘Isn’t it horrible!’

He paid no heed. They walked up the hill, further and further away from the noise.

‘Do you mind very much?’ she asked him.

‘I don’t mind about the dead,’ he said, ‘once they are dead. The worst of it is, they cling on to the living, and won’t let go.’

She pondered for a time.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘The FACT of death doesn’t really seem to matter much, does it?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘What does it matter if Diana Crich is alive or dead?’

‘Doesn’t it?’ she said, shocked.