to reach something. Here was no oak which made her feel, leaning against it, she was growing with it.
He was awfully heavy as if he had died on top of her, not knowing she was being crushed. She shifted slightly to remind him she was there and wanted to get up. His head lifted. His voice was hoarsely anxious. "Are you all right?" He was still breathing heavily.
Well at least he was alive and remembered she was there. Certainly she was all right. Why shouldn't she be? She felt sorry for him because he was so apologetic, but she was sorry for herself too because of her disappointment. Was that all?
"Yes," she said matter-of-factly, "but I want to go upstairs for a minute."
He mopped his face over and over and paced up and down waiting. The others had known how to take care of themselves. He had not been their first lover. She must know—she had wanted it. Unthinkable she would want to leave for New York now.
When she returned his voice broke as he held her close. "Lucy darling, don't go to New York. Stay—marry me."
She kissed him on the forehead, maternally it seemed to him.
"Clem honey, I can't marry you—I'm much too young to get married."
The bedroom was a welter. Invisible hairpins kept turning up everywhere. The pile on the dresser presented a packing problem.
"I'll just throw them out," Mae decided, and swept them into a paper bag with a tangle of old rag curlers, lingerie ribbons, shoelaces, mateless stockings, and scraps that had seemed too good to discard. "And I'm going to cut up all your old dresses and the one you wore today before Mabel has a chance to see they're still good."
Lucy in bed hugged her knees.
"What's the matter, Pussy, don't you feel well?"
There also was the fear that at the last moment something would happen to keep them in Congress, and that would make Lucy so unhappy. As for herself she wouldn't be so disappointed to stay on a while. Despite Mabel's constant bickering the year in Congress had been the easiest since she had left it with Charles Claudel. She even had gained weight that tightened not only the contours of her face but necessitated readjustment of belt hooks and hip seams. But she couldn't bear to have Pussy disappointed.
