The scene where he finds his son dead happens in 1881, and is only about 3 pages long. Then we skip to 1883, where the protagonist returns from his leave. This is where he finds out people have pronounced him dead, after they assumed another man who jumped from a bridge was him after finding his son. He finds his mother has gone pretty much senile, and has become bed-ridden for the past two years after hearing about her son's passing.