“Oh, then you’ve settled it,” Judith said. “Oh, that’s marvelous.”

“Settled what?”

“Whatever it was that was making you both so miserable. Oh, I’m so glad. You didn’t ever really think I believed the nonsense about the illness in the family, did you? Has any young wife ever crossed the ocean alone for a reason like that? I was even a little annoyed with Carol for assuming I’d believe it. I kept wanting to say, Oh, tell me, dear. Tell me. Because you see when you’re old, Warren—” Her eyes began to leak and she wiped them ineffectually with her hand. “When you’re old, you want so much for the people you love to be happy.”