There was levity in Renier's words but not in his voice.
"This," he said, "so far has been a perfectly good Tuesday."
"Whatever we do together," said Lee, "you always give me the best of it. It's been a good summer."
"Do you feel as if summer was over, too?"
She nodded.
"That's funny, isn't it? Because it's nowhere near over, is it? Maybe it's the excitement of the Oducalchis' arrival and your brother's engagement. It makes you sort of feel as if there wasn't time to settle back into the regular life and get things going again before the leaves fall."
He spoke. And from the fine striped maple under which they sat there fell, and fluttered slowly into Lee's lap, a great yellowing leaf ribbed with incipient scarlet.
"That only means," said Renier—but there was a kind of awe in his voice—"that this particular tree has indigestion."
And they sat for a time in silence and looked at the leaf. And lo! Arthur came upon them, smiling.