Sylvia set her mouth hard and stitched rapidly, trying to forget
Joe's piercing yells of a few minutes before. Burke went to the
window and stood there, pensively filling his pipe.
Suddenly, as if something in her silence struck him, he turned and
looked at her. She felt his eyes upon her though she did not raise
her own.
After a moment or two he came to her. "What are you doing there?"
he said.
It was the first piece of work she had done for him. She glanced
up. "Mending your shirt," she told him briefly.
He laid his hand abruptly upon it. "What are you doing that for?
I don't want you to mend my things."
"Oh, don't be silly, Burke!" she said. "You can't go in tatters.
Please don't hinder me! I want to get it done."
She spoke with a touch of sharpness, not feeling very kindly
disposed towards him at the moment. She was still somewhat
agitated, and she wished with all her heart that he would go and
leave her alone.
She almost said as much in the next, breath as he did not remove
his hand. "Why don't you go and shoot something? There's plenty
of time before supper."
"What's the matter?" said Burke.
"Nothing," she returned, trying to remove her work from his grasp.
"Nothing!" he echoed. "Then why am I told not to be silly, not to
hinder you, and to go and shoot something?"
Sylvia sat up in her chair, and faced him.
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