She said: “I came to see you, because I know you are Noel’s mistress. I
haven’t needed him, or wanted him, often, all these years. I did not
have anything to talk to him about. But now, I want him as the father of
my child.”
(God—that was a phrase they used in movie captions.)
“I have not told Noel,” that unformed, girlish voice went on. “I wanted
to see you first. I wanted to ask you to stop seeing him. I plan to live
in a suburb close to New York now, and have him live with me, or at
least come to see me every other day or so—so he will grow fond of his
child. . . . Noel used to want a child once, when we were young . . . I
hope this child is a son. . . . And I’m asking you to do this, because
you are a young and handsome woman. . . . There will be other men for
you. I have only Noel . . . and this child, who will give me something
to live for.”