Colonel Julyan came and stood beside me by the window.
'This is a most distressing thing, Mrs de Winter,' he said gently.
'I do feel for you and your husband most acutely.'
'Thank you,' I said.
I began to sip my sherry.
Then I put the glass back again on the table.
I was afraid he would notice that my hand was shaking.
'What makes it so difficult was the fact of your husband identifying that first body, over a year ago,' he said.
'I don't quite understand,' I said.
'You did not hear, then, what we found this morning?' he said.
'I knew there was a body.
The diver found a body,' I said.
'Yes,' he said.
And then, half glancing over his shoulder towards the hall, 'I'm afraid it was her, without a doubt,' he said, lowering his voice.
'I can't go into details with you, but the evidence was sufficient for your husband and Doctor Phillips to identify.'
He stopped suddenly, and moved away from me.
Maxim and Frank had come back into the room.
'Lunch is ready; shall we go in?' said Maxim.
I led the way into the hall, my heart like a stone, heavy, numb.
Colonel Julyan sat on my right, Frank on my left.
I did not look at Maxim. Frith and Robert began to hand the first course.
We all talked about the weather.
'I see in The Times they had it well over eighty in London yesterday,' said Colonel Julyan.
'Really?' I said.
'Yes.
Must be frightful for the poor devils who can't get away.'
'Yes, frightful,' I said.
'Paris can be hotter than London,' said Frank.
'I remember staying a weekend in Paris in the middle of August, and it was quite impossible to sleep.
There was not a breath of air in the whole city.
The temperature was over ninety.'
'Of course the French always sleep with their windows shut, don't they?' said Colonel Julyan.
'I don't know,' said Frank.
'I was staying in a hotel.
The people were mostly Americans'
'You know France of course, Mrs de Winter?' said Colonel Julyan.
'Not so very well,' I said.
'Oh, I had the idea you had lived many years out there.'
'No,' I said.
'She was staying in Monte Carlo when I met her,' said Maxim.
'You don't call that France, do you?'
'No, I suppose not,' said Colonel Julyan; 'it must be very cosmopolitan.
The coast is pretty though, isn't it?'
'Very pretty,' I said.
'Not so rugged as this, eh?
Still, I know which I'd rather have.
Give me England every time, when it comes to settling down.
You know where you are over here.'
'I dare say the French feel that about France,' said Maxim.
'Oh, no doubt,' said Colonel Julyan.