He was quite himself now. It was a relief to her. It put her quite off her guard.
“Won’t you come and meet my aunt?” she invited.
He picked up his suitcase at once.
“It will be a pleasure,” he answered.
She could not imagine what her aunt would think when she appeared so abruptly escorting a young man with a suitcase, but that did not seem to matter. She knew no better than her aunt what had brought him here; but, now that he was here, it was certain that she must take care of him. She could not allow him to wander homelessly around the village or permit 266 him to camp out like a gypsy. It did not occur to her to reason that this predicament was wholly his fault. All the old feeling of responsibility came back.
As they walked side by side down the street, he was amazed to see how much good even these two days in the country had done her. There was more color in her cheeks and more life in her walk. She was wearing a middy blouse, and that made her look five years younger.
She looked up at him.
“I––I thought you had something very important to do in these next few days,” she reminded him.
“I have,” he answered.
“Then––I don’t understand how you came here.”