He left the room and she heard his footsteps thudding lethargically up the carpeted stair. She tried to listen for the sound of him entering their room, and after sitting unhappily for a few moments, realized he must have already gone in, she was just too far away to hear.

At five o’clock in the morning she found him sitting on the small needlepoint stool in the library, staring into the empty black fireplace. The sky was still dark, though the light between the lilac leaves was turning a dim blue against the window.

Gilbert? She crossed her arms over her nightdress. She’d not put on a robe or slippers. What is it? She spoke in a patient tone.

Gilbert Finch shook his head. She could barely make out his profile, his bottom lip heavy and round. After some moments he said, I’m not sure I could say. The lip tightened. Not sure I know.

He looked to her like a creature at the bottom of the sea growing on a rock, a silent creature whose ecological purpose had run out. He sat hunched on the stool, his palms curled on his knees, his knees nearly level with his shoulders. She was becoming used to the silhouette, the slouch of no hope. It suddenly flashed on her — maybe he would not learn how to adapt. The adaptation which needed to be done wasn’t easy, but one made the effort. She was doing it, wasn’t she?

She tried to keep impatience out of her voice. Will you be coming back to bed? She understood how he felt. She, too, would have liked to throw up her hands sometimes, but she had been taught not to give up. One just made do.

Where else? he said, and the face he turned toward her was one she hardly knew.

On the way up the stairs she wondered if perhaps he wasn’t being the more brave one after all.

36 • A visit from a brother

36 • A visit from a brother

ARTHUR ELIOT liked to argue, and was quick to contradict people at the earliest opportunity. He had long since given up trying to do this with Lilian who merely ignored him and laughed. Mr. Eliot, however, remained susceptible and displayed a special brand of irritability when his son was near. But Arthur had not been around much these days.