She had told him that she was alone--without friends.

And now, like a confession, those words had come strangely from her lips.
What he had heard was one of Otto's pack-horses coming down to drink.

He turned toward her again.
Joanne stood with her back still to the table.

She had slipped a hand into the front of her dress and had drawn forth a long thick envelope.

As she opened it, Aldous saw that it contained banknotes.