The Velasquez on the walls of The Roundabout danced in her stiff skirts,
looking down upon a room bathed in green and gold shadow.
It was three o'clock in the afternoon and Peter was going out to buy Clare
a present. He had seen a ruby pendant many months ago in a window in Bond
Street. He had thought of it for Clare but he had known that, with young
Stephen's education and the rest of the kid's expenses, he could not dare
to afford it. Now... things were different.
It should sign and seal this new order....
He came downstairs. He looked into the little sitting-room. Clare was
standing there by the window looking at the gay trees in the orchard. On
the opposite wall the Velasquez danced....
She had not heard him come in and she was standing by the window with her
hands clasped tightly behind her, her body strung up, so it seemed, by some
height of determination. She wore a black dress with a little white round
her neck and at the sleeves. Her hair was rolled into a pile on the top of
her head and the sunlight from the orchard was shining upon it.
When Peter called her name she turned round with a startled cry and put her
hand to her throat. Then she moved back against the window as though she
were afraid that he was going to touch her.
He noticed her movement and the words that he had intended to say were
checked on his lips.
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