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Show -2b4- Mercedes stared a t them across the sand, patient, resigned, as their dog sometimes looked when told to stay where^he xas. Back inside their automobile, the interior seemed xarmer than when they had l e f t i t . The Professor took off his cap and thrust i t back into his pocket. He poured them each another glass of wine, and they sat for several minutes without speaking, sipping t h e i r xrine and staring out at the sea. The Professor xas the f i r s t to break the silence. "I wish i t were t h i s year that we were sailing out there, he said. I t was the f i r s t reference either of them had made concerning the s t r i k e since morning. His wife seemed to nod, but did not speak. "I suppose, though, xre c a n ' t run away from this thing," the Professor went on. He was thinking of one of his friends who had taken his leave this year - was now in Venice. Hoxr would he feel about the s t r i k e if he were in I t a l y and heard about i t only through an occasional l e t t e r and the Paris Herald- Tribune? Perhaps he would feel that he were missing something important. He d i d n ' t think so. His xrife turned to him and again put her hand on h i s. "Let's not spoil this day by thinking about, or talking about, the s t r i k e , " she said. The promise of her touch and the look in her eyes |