Did the priest communicate with her: did she speak to him: was there consolation? He was in the room--to prevent people from talking: Bichain had called him in. Precepts: what had they done, had they stopped the war, had they defied Hitler? ... nothing ... nothing, there's nothing, no god ... wars ... cuckolds ... war ...
She wiped her face with a handkerchief, a man's handkerchief, her husband's, snatched from an overcoat. Mopping her face reddened it: it was more tragic, the red and the putty surface wrinkling, the eyes sinking in on themselves.
Her face shocked Jeannette as they waited, motionless. For Orville there was the distorted tie-in with Rousseau's world.
"Orville, help me, take my arm ... I'm going upstairs, best to go, not wait..."
She said nothing as they climbed the steps; Orville wanted to say a few words; he tried to re-see something he and Lena had done, so he could mention it to his aunt; it was almost as if he had never known Lena. Instead of visualizing or evoking her he recalled his last military involvement, the stress of the trip to visit Ermenonville; as they reached the top step, Orville said:
"I heard from Mother, a while ago."
"Ah," his aunt responded.
"She's all right," he said.
Words were automatic--out of the past.
Mme. Ronde wondered what it was Orville had said.