“No,” she said, through lips that felt strangely stiff, compelling her voice with difficulty. “I lost my way. I fell asleep. I am just going to Fordestown.”
“Going to Fordestown! Why, it’s miles away! Why didn’t you wait till I came to you? You knew I should come.”
His voice had a caressing quality. It drew her against her judgment. Her wild, unreasoning fear subsided somewhat. She smiled at him, though still her lips felt stiff.
“I expected to be back by that time,” she said. “I started quite early.”
“But why did you start at all?” he said.
He was still bending over her. She gave him her hands with a slight gesture of appeal to help her up. He took them and drew her upwards into his arms.
Holding her so, in spite of her quick effort for freedom, he looked deeply into her eyes. “Tell me why you went!” he said.
She hesitated, trying to avert her face.
“No, that won’t help you,” he said, frustrating her. “Tell me!”
Unwillingly she answered him. “I had a bad night, and I decided—in the morning—that—I had better look for work.”