“Why not?”
“Helen didn’t like to. It was always too hot or too cold.”
“I’d like it,” she said, and began gathering up the dishes.
“It was a very good lunch, and you’ve proved what a great help you are,” he said. “Now I’ll take care of these, while you go up and get ready to start looking for a place to live.”
“You are in a hurry to get me out, aren’t you?”
“Sorry if I seem rude.”
“Well, you do, and you needn’t be. I’ll find a place this afternoon. But I finish what I start, and I’m going to finish this lunch — which means washing the dishes. Go away.”
Conway felt childishly helpless. How do you stop an attractive young woman who is determined to wash dishes for you? He did not know how he could be any more rude than he had already been, and he certainly could not use force. He could help her, and thereby speed the operation, but that meant being with her: the one thing he wanted to avoid.
“I’ll go up to my room,” he said. “I’ll see if there’s anything advertised in the papers.”
He marked a few listings which he thought might be possibilities, and then sat down at the typewriter so that he might give the appearance of working. But it was over an hour before she tapped on the door.