"I'd like it very much if you would," she says. It's always so hard to know how to phrase things so that a simple wish isn't taken as an order. She doesn't want him to stay if he doesn't want to! But she doesn't want him to go either. She's been feeling increasingly lonely here, and it's hard to know how to fill that void.

"Are you comfortable over there?" is asked politely, even though she knows it's hardly possible for him to be too comfortable ever. Why can't there be more she can do for him? She feels like a complete and utter failure at doing anything to make things at all better for someone who used to be such a dear friend - who still is, on her side. She can't begin to guess what he thinks of her.