MDMD(5): Rebekah; brief grief tangent

[Bill Millard]

Chris, amidst more intriguing Speculations about Mason & Rebekah 
than I could possibly begin addressing during a Work-day, included 
a Query regarding Dixon:

> At the end of Ch. 15 we find the two friends sitting there together
> in the pub.  Mason in some desperation poses Dixon a series of
> questions, the upshot of which is:  how Exactly is Mason supposed to
> go about the business of recovering from Rebekah's untimely death? 
> In return, Dixon offers some practical advice, if not consolation,
> to our Ghastly Fop that he has no choice but to "get on with it." 
> (Apropos of Rebekah, n.b. definition of ghastly as ghost-like,
> pallid). Going off on a tangent already, can someone explain what
> Mason means by asking here, "How has Getting On With It been working
> out for you, then?"  This question implies some knowledge on Mason's
> part, doesn't it, of a comparable bereavement on Dixon's part.  To
> which experience is Mason making reference?  Have I forgotten
> something, or am I over-interpreting here?

At present I'm ca. 100 blocks north of my copy, so I can't check the
chronology here, the who-knew-what-about-whom-when... but 
wouldn't this probably refer to Dixon's reaction to the death of his 
father? Our Jere pretty much fell apart for a while in various 
respects after this loss -- was on his way to becoming quite the 
'Country Lout,' I recall.  Perhaps Mason is observing that Dixon's 
still bearing a few traces of the social harshness and personal 
sloppiness that ensued from this bereavement.  (Or perhaps my memory 
of these passages is itself sloppy.)  

If both knew of each other's bereavements at this point, it's a 
not-insignificant moment in their long process of drawing gradually 
closer.

--Bill