She would never know.

"I wish I knew what Uncle Victor was afraid of."

Wondering what he had been afraid of, she felt afraid.




XXV


I.

She waited.

Mamma and Mark had turned their backs to her as they clung together. But
there was his sparrow-brown hair, clipped close into the nape of his
red-brown neck. If only Mamma wouldn't cry like that--

"Mark--"

"Is that Minky?"

They held each other and let go in one tick of the clock, but she had
stood a long time seeing his eyes arrested in their rush of recognition.
Disappointed.

The square dinner-table stretched itself into an immense white space