Dinner that evening was the worst ordeal I’ve ever gone through. Catherine plainly should have been in bed. She sat bravely at the foot of the table, under the suspicious eye of Horace, the ancient butler, before whom it was hopeless to dissemble. Perhaps she had a vision of future peace that held her up. But then I’m sure women are far calmer than men in face of spiritual hardships, perhaps because they are greater materialists than we are.
Lewis was inimitable. He made no effort to be amusing, as many people who knew the situation would have done. He talked gravely and intelligently about many things, America, the Orient, and Africa. He had travelled widely and seen a great deal more than the rest of us. Not once did he allow Catherine to carry the burden of the talk for long, yet I don
