But Roger did not hear what Anne was saying; her eyes with their dark circles beneath were too big, her cheeks too pale.
"But you'll be ill yourself, and what good will that do them? Anne, Tom isn't going to be able to make that Chicago convention; he wants me to go instead. Won't you come?"
"To Chicago! Now! I couldn't, Roger. I couldn't go that far away now."
"Why not?"
If the Mitchells had been on the other side of the world they would have had to manage without her. "It seems to me you've done as much as they can expect."
Anne stiffened. "They don't expect anything. I'm not doing it because they expect it. There's nothing else to do. Don't talk like that, Roger; I don't like it."
"And I don't like it either, this arrangement, not one bit."
Anne flushed. She felt that Roger was opposing her opposition more than entreating her to go.
"Let's not talk about it. No matter what they expect or don't expect, I should be miserable. Besides, it is impossible."
"What would they do if you weren't here?"