“Will I see you again?” Roman asked with less flippancy than he had before.

Roman had ridden into Highboro with Sugar, who drove Casey Troy and his luggage in to catch the train to Savannah. Roman had known Proctor would be there on errands, and so had invented some of his own. They’d met, as if by accident, in the post office after the train left and the mail was being sorted.

“I don’t know,” Proctor said in answer. “I want to be with you forever, but I don’t think I want to see you again for half an hour.”

18

It would stay warm for another six to eight weeks, but Nell and Penelope, and even Selma and Pauline, talked of the winter things they had asked Leon to buy for them in Savannah. Among these were toiletries Highboro did not afford, presents they meant to give at Christmas, and dress materials. The instructions for the last of these had been precise, and Leon had been cautioned not to deviate from them—for what does a man know of design and material? If it were absolutely necessary to make substitutions, he was to ask the advice of some respectable older female if one happened to be in the store when he was there; but on no account was he to take the advice of sales clerks, for they would try to take advantage of his being a man and knowing nothing of what he was about.

All during Leon’s absence Nell and Penelope, and sometimes even Sarah when she had a moment to sit down, discussed these matters tirelessly as they rocked back and forth in their personal chairs on the cool, columned front porch. Both older women had become enthusiastic rockers, and a couple of years back Leon had given them identical chairs, which they had immediately taken pains to differentiate. Nell filled hers with back and seat cushions and small pillows in pretty colors. Penelope contented herself with scarlet velvet ribbons on the two back posts and with a single thin quilted cushion for the seat. Each treated the other’s additions with kindly sneers.