"You've been in the army, haven't you?"
He said he had been.
"Did you like it?"
"I never had time to think as to whether I did or not. I just had to stick it out."
"Did you ever see Tad over there?"
"No, I never did."
As she was laconic he too would be laconic. She didn't look at him, or show an interest in his personality. If she thought him the brother who after long disappearance was coming home again she betrayed no hint of the possibility. He might have been a chance stranger whom she would never see again. Lapses of silence did not embarrass her. She sat and smoked.
He decided to assume the right to ask questions on his own side. "You've been married since I saw you last, haven't you?"
"Yes." She didn't resent this, apparently, and after a long two minutes of silence, added: "and divorced." There was still a noticeable passage of time before she continued, in her toneless voice: "I've a baby too."
"Do you like him?"