“Come, Shep. I think we must be going.”
The silence of the house was broken in a moment by the closing of the front door.
II
Shep and Constance drove in silence the few blocks that lay between Mills’s house and their own. Constance explained their return to the maid by saying that she hadn’t felt well and ordered a cold supper served in the breakfast room. Shep strolled aimlessly about while she went upstairs and reappeared in a house gown. When they had eaten they went into the living-room, where she turned the leaves of a book while he pretended to read the evening newspaper. After a time she walked over to him and touched his arm, let her hand rest lightly on his head.
“Yes, Connie,” he said.
“There’s something I want to say to you, Shep.”
“Yes, Connie.”
He got up and she slipped into his chair.
“It’s a lie, Shep. What your father said is a lie!”
“Yes; of course,” he said, but he did not look at her.