His eye had wandered uncomfortably up to a portrait on the wall.
“That was my mother,” said Alvina.
He glanced down at her, but did not answer.
“I am so sorry you’re going away,” she said nervously. She stood looking up at him with wide blue eyes.
The faint smile grew on the lower part of his face, which he kept averted. Then he looked at her.
“We have to move,” he said, with his eyes watching her reservedly, his mouth twisting with a half-bashful smile.
“Do you like continually going away?” she said, her wide blue eyes fixed on his face.
He nodded slightly.
“We have to do it. I like it.”
What he said meant nothing to him. He now watched her fixedly, with a slightly mocking look, and a reserve he would not relinquish.