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Richard arrived just on time at the playroom. He looked composed, and was obviously determined to cooperate in the analysis as well as possible. He put a chocolate box on the table and said that he had brought something for Mrs K., and asked her to guess what it was.
Mrs K. guessed that it was the fleet.
Richard said he wanted to know how she could have guessed this straight away. He was wondering about this and suggested that she perhaps heard a slight rattling when he put the box down on the table.
Mrs K. agreed that she possibly did, but added that Richard had also told her recently that he had put the fleet into a box and was keeping it there. Did Richard, by saying that he had brought the fleet for her, also mean that he wanted to cooperate in the analysis for her sake? Some time before he had said that he did it for his parents' sake.
Richard strongly maintained that it was also for her sake.
Mrs K. suggested that he might be doing it for his own sake as well.
Richard said that this was not so. (This is striking since he was obviously convinced that the analysis was helpful and necessary for him.) He took the fleet out and put it in battle order. He said that Nelson was leading, though the Hood was the largest. Then he stopped and said that Mrs K. had not asked him a question which she should ask, and he was not going to say which question—she should think it out herself.
Mrs K. suggested that the question (which she always asked when Richard returned from the weekend) was about his father's health.
Richard said that was right; but why had she not asked it?
Mrs K. explained that she had rung his mother the previous night, as Richard well knew, about altering the times of the sessions; and she had heard that his father was getting on satisfactorily.