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Show 354 IV He had to admit he was not pleased with the way Gloriana had turned out. Lying there on the floor of the basement in his sleeping bag, his hands laced under his head, he watched the moonlight creep across the spines of the books that lined one wall and counted the things about her he hadn't liked. For one thing she had acted as though his visit were a big inconvenience. He could tell her something about inconvenient visits. She hadn't even introduced him to Floyd, who had remained somewhere else in the house while they were talking. From time to time Lorin had heard doors opening and closing and footsteps creaking floors at various distances from where he had sat on the couch. Once he had heard water running in the kitchen, but there was apparently an access to the kitchen that didn't take you through the living room where you would have to be polite. For another thing she appeared to be cultivating a trendy look, which didn't suit her. Her face had looked better when it was round and topped by bangs. It looked washed-out and angular now without makeup, and parting her hair in the middle so that it framed her face like an inverted V seemed like an affectation. So did wearing it long and straight. For another thing, she was not very interested in hearing about his mission, and was only politely amused at the part about Alice. For another thing she seemed to take herself more seriously than she needed to. When she told him what she was doing in graduate school and what her plans were and when she was going to finish and what she was going to do afterward she didn't look at him directly. She talked with her chin tilted up a little and looked past |