She packed away her stationery box and clambered to her feet, stretching. Her tanned body was easy on the eyes, and I thought, This is the last time you’ll walk around on dry land, Peggy.

She was wearing a yellow-and-black two-part swimsuit. She came running down to the beach and got in the front of the rowboat; I shoved it off from shore, wading a couple of feet along with it, and jumped in. The oars dipped into the water and the boat glided away.

She leaned back, draping her arms over her head so the fingertips trailed in the water, and let her legs sprawl out so her toes touched mine. I smiled at her and tugged at the oars. No one was in sight. We hadn’t seen another human being or even a sign of one since our arrival.

“It’s sure secluded here,” I said. We reached the middle of the lake and I stilled the oars, letting the boat drift. The water was like glass, dark green glass that became progressively more opaque. There was no wind, and the sky was cloudless. A lovely day for dying.

“You know what I’m going to do?” Peggy said. “I’m going to sunbathe. It’s all right, isn’t it? I mean, no one can see?”

“No one in miles,” I said. “Maybe a bird or two overhead, but they don’t count.”

She unsnapped her halter and wriggled out of the pants and crumpled the swimsuit into a little ball no bigger than a handkerchief, sticking it away under the seat. She stretched out, eyes closed, nude, lovely. Her body was a warm golden tan except for those places where it still was pale.

“The sun feels wonderful,” she said. “This has really been swell, Mike.”

I looked at her, studying the long firm brown thighs, the creamy swell of her full breasts, the softness of her, the gentle roundness of the belly that held a child— my child. For a moment I wavered; why not let her live, I wondered. Why not let the child be born, get the divorce, marry her, instead of destroying child and mother, killing the loveliness that lay bare before me.

No, I thought. It was impossible.

Peggy’s beauty would not last forever; the years would coarsen her fine features, the proud breasts would sag, the body would grow flabby. She would want more children, and probably get them. We’d never have enough cash to pay two months’ rent in advance.

I shook my head. I had had all I wanted from her already; the thing to do was to quit while I was ahead. Helen was waiting for me, Helen who was cold and icy but at least changeless, and who would keep me from ever wanting any material thing.

There were plenty of pretty girls like Peggy around, I thought. And very few Helens.

The decision was made. There was no choice.