David did not go in with her. He probably needed a little time to himself, and she must see that he got it through the day as well. For her, having someone else to think about and be with was a relief. For David, taking on the responsibility of two peculiar old women must be exhausting. Diana had the sense to know that, of the two, she presented him with the greater difficulty.

‘Who is it?’ Constance cried and sat up.

‘Me,’ Diana answered, gathering Constance into her arms.

‘Oh, you,’ Constance said, relaxing into the embrace.

It will be all right, Diana thought to her, I promise you, it will be all right.

— 11 —

DAVID DECLINED THE USE of the car and set out on foot into the little town. It was only a mile away, and it was a cool, windless morning. He needed the exercise, for he was nearly apprehensive with happiness. The components of it were obvious: they had managed the trip without serious incident and arrived in a comic little paradise which overnight had transformed his sister from a near cripple into an athlete, and, though Constance was still tense with uncertainty, she was comfortable enough with him to read to him. But what pleased him most, what he could not have said he wanted beforehand, was his sense of being one of three people equally engaged in the routines and pleasures of the day. He had not ever expected to get over feeling alone, only hoped gradually to be more resigned to it. But now for two weeks he was going to be one of three, and his being alone, walking along the desert road towards the town, towards the mountains, only seemed to emphasize the connectedness he felt.

He was, he supposed, in some quite simple way in love with Constance. Perhaps he had always been. He certainly remembered the first day he had met her, the shock of her loveliness so beyond his ambition as a lover. He had also known, without articulating it to himself, that his sister was in love with Constance. When Patricia put an ugly name to it, he was stunned at first and then a little in awe of them. When he made his yearly birthday visit, he had the irrational sense that he was the one who was banished, that his ordinary life didn’t qualify him for any intimacy with them.