He looked at her with the eyes of a lover.
“In the kitchen, then? I have prepared the cellar for you.”
“The kitchen, then.”
She stood and directed the two men, happy as a little housewife arranging her home for the first time. Then she descended into the cellar, lit the candle, and experienced a moment of exquisite pleasure. Her eyes missed none of the details. This little white-arched cellar held more than a bed, a table, a cracked mirror; she felt in it the soul of the man who had been busy here.
Paul was waiting at the top of the steps. She turned and met him.
“I thought it would be warmer for you down there,” he said.
She stood leaning against the wall.
“Thank you, Paul. It is so good to come back, when a man has taken so much trouble.”
Brent was silent a moment.
“What will you have down there? The bed and the trunks?”