If I hadn't been there, you'd have fallen clean on to the floor and perhaps hurt yourself." She sat up, then rose unsteadily to her feet.

"I am much better now!" she declared eagerly.
He watched her incomprehensively as she walked across the floor, her knees loose to bear her weight, her lips twitching, and her hands doing odd little things with no meaning in them.

It was forced upon him then, the wondering why she was trying so hard to hide her weakness.

He would have imagined that a woman would like to be made a fuss of, petted, looked after; to be allowed to lie prone upon a couch, emitting little moans of discomfort to attract sympathy.

And he, himself, would have been quite willing to give it.