"Ten tomorrow night."
They were silent. He still smiled, his blunt fingers tapping the arm of his chair, but the corners of his full lips sagged with fatigue under the stiff edges of his mustache and he was pale.
Alice got her hat down from the shelf.
"You need some one to take care of you," she said, trying to sound angry. She was afraid her words hurt him. Her heart beat very fast.
"Young Harrison is going along to keep me from walking overboard in an absent moment."
They were quiet again. Alice could not make up her mind to go out. The trees in the square seemed to have crowded closer against the open windows. The leaves looked like tin in the auras of light. She stared into the street that had grown still.
"Well—if I don't get down to the boat I'll send somebody." She held out her hand.
He stood up. Being so big, he looked more helpless behind his shade. He took her hand and held it in both his.
"God bless you, Miss Alice."
She could not speak.