Sometimes Mrs. Phillips, called away by domestic duty, would leave them;
returning full of excuses just as they had succeeded in forgetting her.
It was evident she was under the impression that her presence was useful
to them, making it easier for them to open up their minds to one another.
"Don't you be put off by his seeming a bit unresponsive," Mrs. Phillips
would explain. "He's shy with women. What I'm trying to do is to make
him feel you are one of the family."
"And don't you take any notice of me," further explained the good woman,
"when I seem to be in opposition, like. I chip in now and then on
purpose, just to keep the ball rolling. It stirs him up, a bit of
contradictoriness. You have to live with a man before you understand
him."
One morning Joan received a letter from Phillips, marked immediate. He
informed her that his brain was becoming addled. He intended that
afternoon to give it a draught of fresh air. He would be at the Robin
Hood gate in Richmond Park at three o'clock. Perhaps the gods would be
good to him. He would wait there for half an hour to give them a chance,
anyway.
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