Their cups rattled portentously in the silence and being deaf he did­n’t hear the imperceptible tremble of her indrawn breath, but he saw the tremulous rise of her chest and knew she would speak.

“Tell me Joe, why is it that you travel for two days by horse and train to sit here and say nothing?” He drank before he spoke, his cracked and timber stained hands clasping the cup. His eyes full of a dark con­suming flame, fixed hers.