“This afternoon?”
“Or this evening. I’m coming to that. I very much need your help. It’s an extraordinary thing to ask. I’m anxious to keep it very quiet, both on her account and my own. Not the fact afterward. That must come out. But its taking place, when and where. Then of course we can go away, for a year, two years; live permanently abroad perhaps.”
“Yes?”
“I say I can’t explain it very clearly. You’ll just have to take a good deal of it for granted. The newspapers are so curious and impertinent. I’d like this to happen without anyone knowing it until the notice is published and we are gone. She has no home. I mean, she lives at a hotel. I have no home either. At a church or any public place like that we’d be noticed at once.”
“Will you ask the waiter to bring some more butter, please. Yes, go on. What can I do to help?”
“Take mine. I hoped you’d guess by this time. There’s no one else I can ask.”
“Thanks. No, I can’t guess.”
“Well, if you would let the ceremony take place in your apartment here and sort of manage the fussy part I’d never know how much to thank you.”
“Yes, indeed. I’d love to do it. Why did you make such a bother of asking? I’ll have some decorations sent in. What will she wear? What colors does she like?”
“I’ll have to find out.”