"Ruth," the deacon asked, almost before we had shaken hands, "did you know Tom had gone away?"
I was impressed and rather startled by the intensity of his manner, and surprised by the question.
"Yes," I said. "He sent me word he was going."
"Do you know where he has gone?"
"No."
I wondered whether I ought to tell him about the sealed address, but it seemed like a breach of confidence to say anything yet.
"Did he say why he was going?" the deacon asked.
"No," I said again.
The deacon turned his hat over and over helplessly in his knotted hands in silence for a moment. He was so pathetic that I wanted to cry.
"Then you don't know," he said after a moment.