XXXVNellie laid down the letter and pushed her spectacles back on the top of her head. Ase smiled. The effect was as though she wore a humorous little crown. He tried to remember when her hair had turned in color to a shining silver. It must have come imperceptibly, for he had not been truly aware of a difference until this moment. Her unlined, unwrinkled face was as plump as ever, her cheeks as pink, her eyes as blue. He watched her fatuously.
She said, “Don’t you want to know the news? Come on back to earth. What were you thinking about?”
“About you.”
“What about me?”
“You’re so pretty, Nellie.”
“Stuff and nonsense. Listen, now. ’Melie wants to come home to be married to that man Crockett. Nat and Arent and Willis want to come, too. Nat’s giving ’Melie the wedding.”
“Why, that’s fi
