at this hour. She had become, in that short ride, the sort of friend who anticipates one's every need.
Theresa, however, disappointed him on one score. When she opened the door she said, "Well, for Heaven's sake!" Then she laughed and said, "Come on in. I guess I didn't sound very hospitable, but I wasn't expecting you, you know. Come in."
He followed her to the living-room and through to the kitchen. She had been ironing but pulled the plug out of the wall socket in preparation for a lengthy visit. He stood in the kitchen door as she spread the dampened garments over a small line and put her iron on the marble window ledge to cool.
They went back to the living-room to sit down. Theresa lit a cigarette and asked how Hubert and Lillian were. She was plainly curious as to what had prompted the call, and Hubert was loath to come to the reason for his visit.
For more than a half-hour Theresa manufactured conversation, now and then permitting a minute's silence to fall encouragingly.
At last Hubert said, "Theresa, I hate to ask you what I've come to ask you today. I really do. It goes against my grain and if it wasn't for Lillian I'd take a licking before I'd ask you this. But you see—I guess it's pretty plain to you—things have been going pretty bad with us."
Theresa nodded.
"Well, fact is, I'm in an awful bad way. Lillian doesn't realize how bad and I don't want to tell her. No use in worrying her, I figure. I'd like to know—
