Mrs. Farley's eyes filled with tears. Ugly and old, before Winnie's pity Mrs. Farley was a woman beaten back by a lover. She put forth a smile that was like a weak and gentle hand caressing an enemy. "Bless you, dear. You sit still while I get your breakfast."
She walked out quickly.
When Laurence came home to dinner Winnie, still dressed in her best, was alone in the living-room.
"Hello! You've assumed a new rôle," he said from the doorway.
She could see that finding her there made him uncomfortable. She smiled at him with a kind of happy pain.
He came forward. He was kind and distant. His lips brushed her hair.
She gazed up at him. Her eyes, with crushed back lids and lifted lashes, melted open for his.
"I don't want to be sick, Laurie. I've got to go away with Mother. You won't hate me for going away with her? I do need a change so!"
He stood before her with a kind of mocking fatigue, but she saw that he was sunk deep in himself. She wanted to drag him up.