He started to cry, then, and was immersed in lachrymose repentance when I got him to the cabin. Helen and I put him to bed. “Well,” she said, after we’d tucked him in and put a big pitcher of water beside the bed, “now what?”
“I’ll stay with him,” I told her. “You take the car, go uptown, and get your hair fixed at that beauty shop you were talking about.”
She looked at me, hesitated a moment.
I said, “I’ll have to give you a traveler’s check. I—”
She laughed up at me. “Forget it. I’ve got money.”
“All you need?”
“Sure. I lit out with Pug’s bank roll. And listen, Donald, if you get short, I can stake you. I know you’re paying for this show, and I know you’re going to come out on it all right when you’ve finished up, but in case you find the shoe pinching, just let me know.”
“Thanks, I will.”
“ ’By,” she said.
“Be seeing you.”