Somehow, Blanche managed to cover the stunned surprise and offer her congratulations.

That night the two of them left for a week's honeymoon in Acapulco.

While they were away Blanche came into the office every morning, running things as she had always run them for Stanley, going through the week in a dazed stupor, getting things done automatically, out of habit.

For exactly one week, she was able to continue in this manner.

On the morning of Stanley's return, however, her strength left her. Two hours of watching his serenely happy face, listening to his soft humming as he bent over his penciled figures, and Blanche had to leave.

She stayed away for ten days. Those ten days were like no others that Blanche had known.

Mostly, she stayed in bed. She didn't tell anyone, even her mother, what was wrong. She refused to have a doctor, insisting there was nothing a doctor could do for her.