Forget what I said. I guess I’m feeling a little depressed tonight.’
He was quick to meet her half-way, now he had won his point.
‘I do understand, Eve,’ he said. ‘It won’t be for much longer. I promise you that. If you’l only stick it for another month. After that you needn’t ever see Kile again.’
‘I hope not,’ she sighed, acutely aware of her defeat.
He put his arm round her and pulled her to him.
‘Snap out of it,’ he said lightly. ‘Everything’s going to be fine and dandy. Think of the things I’m going to buy you when we get the money!’ His sudden good humour didn’t deceive her. She knew how untrustworthy, how shiftless and dishonest he was. There was nothing she could do about it. He was part of her: the Hyde to her Jekyll; something she was helpless to rid herself of. ‘You told Kile tonight? He knows now?’
‘Yes. I told him.’
‘How did he take it?’
‘Oh, he’s enthusiastic’ She felt the thin cloth of his suit. It had been pressed again and again. It was threadbare. Only he could have worn it and made it look something. On any other man it would have been a rag. ‘Didn’t you buy the suit, darling?’ she went on. ‘I was hoping you’d wear it tonight.’
‘Oh, yes, I bought it,’ he said glibly. ‘If I’d known you were going to be so late I’d have stopped to change.’