"Nearer to what?"
"Finding."
"Something you lost?"
"I think so. Must be. I'll go back now."
He put out a hand to stop her. "Listen," he said. "It'll be hours before I shall know. I'm frightened to spend them alone. Be a friend, little lady, and bear me company. 'Tisn't fair to ask, but if you could stay a little."
"I'll stay," she said.
"And will you talk to me?"
"Yes."
"Tell me a story then—just as if I were a kid, a child. A man isn't much more these times."
At the word "child" her arms went out to him, but dropped to her sides again as he said "a man."