Question

'Your father wasn't drowned, Elizabeth'
Why does henry say this?

Answer 1

Mrs. Jordan said that she had seen many cases where many people came back to life after they were considered to be death, Henry said these words mockingly. He meant that her father had died due to old age and that in cases of drowning some possibilities of that kind may remain, but not in cases 

Answer 2

Henry says so when Mrs.Jordan (Elizabeth) speaks about the cases where people were thought to be dead but were restored to life. He means that those who returned were the ones who had been drowned, but her father(Abel) was not drowned