“I wanted to make sure of you. Besides, why can’t I make believe?”
“Don’t you want to go with me, then?”
“Yes. But I can’t leave Father, he wouldn’t be able to do anything without me. Poor Father, he’s helpless, you know. He must have someone to look after him. And anyway you’ld have gone off.”
“June, why do you say that?”
“They always do. There was a story I read called The Love of White Hope. The young man in that left his girl whom he had promised to marry, and she committed suicide, which was stupid, and he was so sorry that he drank water for the rest of his life, or something, I forget, which was stupider still. Yes, that was it, he used to drink in his young days, and then after that he gave it up. He was lovely when he was young. You would never take me with you.”
“But I asked you to come.”
“Did you?”
“I said you could.”
“Yes, I did.”