"Not here - it's all too long and confused and .... I have to get out of here... " She was flushed now, her earlier pallor gone. "Will we get Peter?"
"No we will not get Peter" she snapped. "I want to talk to you by yourself. Will you come out for a walk with me?"
"Now? But aren't we going upstairs to have the meal that's on the table for us?" He was utterly bewildered by her. "I told Rita that you and I would not be having our meal today, I made a few sandwiches. " She had a neat packet wrapped in greaseproof paper. "I have to talk to you." Her voice was not menacing, but yet Martin seemed to fear her words.
"Listen, love, I'm a working man, I can't go off wandering where the fancy takes me." he said.
"It's early closing today."
"But I have ... I have a hundred things to do - will we bring those sandwiches upstairs and have them with Rita? Wouldn't that be grand?"
"I don't want to talk in front of Rita... "
"You know, I don't think you should be talking at all - come on, now and I'll settle you into your bed, and we'll have no more of this nonsense." His voice was the same as when he was taking a splinter out of a child's finger, or painting iodine on to a cut knee.
He was soothing and full of encouragement. Helen's eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Martin, what am I going to do with you?" she asked. He patted her hand. "Youu're going to smile at me. There is nothing on this earth that is not made better by a good smile."
She forced a smile and he dusted away the tear-drops. "What did I tell you?" he said triumphantly. He was still holding her hand, and they looked like a happy couple sharing a secret, a life together and maybe a loving moment when the door opened and Lilian Kelly came in followed by her sister Maura, who had come on a visit as she did every year around this time.