Mary closed the door quietly, her words still ringing in his ears "Mama asked that you sleep in your dressing room."
He looked down into his half empty glass and felt his whole chest shudder as a tear fell into the amber liquid. He swiped at his face with the back of his hand, uninterested in fumbling for his handkerchief. He'd lost his youngest daughter and now his wife was shutting him out. His whole world was on the brink of collapse.
He slowly raised the glass to his lips and sipped at his drink, the taste burning his throat. He placed the glass down and looked down at Isis who was in her familiar spot at his feet.
"Will you stay with me, Isis?"
The dog looked up at her master and wagged her tail. Unaware of how her masters heart was breaking. He slowly reached his hand down and patted her head, not having strength for much else. The tears continued to roll down his cheeks and onto his dressing gown.
"I knew you would." He found the faintest of smiles for his ever faithful friend and slumped back into his chair, his whole body wracked with emotion.
He closed his eyes for a short while, hoping to find sleep but quickly opened them again when all he saw were the images from earlier that night.
His beloved Sybil in horrendous pain, his wife and son in law trying to keep her with them but failing. The loud painful sobs of his wife and then the look. The look that told him she held him responsible for their loss. The look that had haunted his every waking moment since. The look that could effectively bring his whole world crashing down around him.