Pa, all the neighbors had automobiles and didn't have to take the bus.
Lucy was as upset as I about Figente's death. She was changed when she returned from Paris. She was calmer than I ever had known her to be and this gave her more assurance on the stage. I no longer had the feeling that she was going through her part as a well-rehearsed pupil. Another change in Lucy was that she was concerned about being undressed if one of the men from the show came into her dressing room.
She brought me a greeting from Vermillion and said she had seen him a few times. But that was all.
I was certain she was keeping his real message from me. Knowing Lucy, I had accepted as inevitable that they might make love while she was in Paris. But my feeling for him surmounted such momentary passion. Apart from correspondence about mutual interest in the arts I had respected his fetish concerning privacy and, without asking return, had told only of my own personal news. Then Figente's death and will necessitated many letters back and forth until I wrote that when Lucy's show closed in July she and I would come to Paris. He replied how happy he was we were coming and he would meet us if he could. Again I could tell, I thought, from the tone of his letter, this time signed "love," that it was me he meant, and debated how to tell Lucy. But there were many details to attend to before we sailed.
I had thought it ironic that Figente had left money to me rather than to Vermillion, but then it occurred to me that he was really leaving it to Vermillion and me for I knew he sensed from our frequent talks about Paul how I felt about him. Of course, he could sell the paintings left to him but Figente knew it would make Paul feel terrible to have to do that.
Hector didn't want me to leave but said I could come back any time. The lease was up on the apartment, and with Paul saying he would meet me, it seemed an omen to put everything in storage and go to Paris with Lucy. She had to return for another play Beman had for her in the autumn.
Mae did not want to come with us but went to Congress instead. Lucy said, "When you're her age you like to feel at home