He stretched out his hand to take hers, but she avoided him. “Why must you talk in riddles? First, the touch of fairyland has gone, and now the edges are frayed. What do you mean?”
She finished her drink. “I’m trying so hard to be kind,” she said. “Can’t you see that? Things don’t mean the same to me any more—there, I’ve told you.”
Still he couldn’t grasp what she meant. He signalled to Mandell to fill the glasses. Mandell gave an elaborate start, as if he had just noticed them, and brought the shaker over. “You like these, sir?” he said agreeably.
“Yes, they are very good,” the big man said, smiling vaguely, “very good indeed.”
Mandell pushed the glasses a few inches towards them and then stood away, taking up his old position.
“What was it you were saying?” the big man asked, taking up the thread of the conversation. “Are you bored with travelling? Do you want to settle down?”
She said, “Yes.”
“But where? Here?”
She shook her head. “No. It wouldn’t be here.”
There was a long pause, then he said: “I love you so much that I will go wherever you wish. Tell me, and we will make plans.”