SHE TOOK the usual path across the field coming back from the clinic. The sky was grey save for a yellow band of light at the horizon. What was she doing in this foreign country where the days smelled of strange wood burning and the nights were as still as quarries? A wave of fatigue came over her and she stopped. It was a mistake, she knew the moment she stopped, but it was too late. Telling herself she’d rest just a minute, she plopped onto a tuft of grass. It was late spring, and the trees had fuzzed into green. Change in the seasons affected one’s spirits. Her breath did not come easily, she clasped her fingers in her lap. Among the bank of trees alongside the field she noticed one tree in particular. How could she have missed seeing it? She’d been coming this way since the fall. It was a big oak set a little apart, with a long low branch extending out a foot off the ground. It seemed to hover in the air without any support whatsoever.

The band of light at the horizon grew narrower and more yellow.

What is it What is it What is it kept going through her mind.

This must be how Gilbert felt, unable to move, in a fish tank. It seemed as if the trees were watching her. Sometimes there was a glass wall between her and everyone else — she couldn’t speak to people on the other side, and when they spoke, it reached her as a sort of muted gurgle, that is, not really reaching her. She wondered if she were catching Gilbert’s state of mind. Then she thought of Sally up with a cough the night before, clutching at Lilian’s nightgown, trying to be brave. The children were waiting for her. The thought of the children got her to her feet. It occurred to her that this was not enough to get Gilbert to his feet — she supposed it was his knowing they were being taken care of by their mother. What then would make him get to his feet?

At the cottage there was a letter waiting from Dolly who was in London on a visit. Lilian pocketed it amidst the tumult of the children’s dinner and baths, and opened it later in her room before changing for dinner. The Vernons were having a wonderful time. Freddie had only a little business and was getting his shirts. Dolly had brought him to the theatre where he slept politely without snoring. And guess who she’d run into? Walter Vail! He was there with an English woman. Did Lilian know that his wife had died? Dolly had certainly put her foot in it. He was due that afternoon for tea at their hotel so Dolly would find out more. Was next Thursday a good day for her to come out and visit?