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He made a splendid witness. I saw him frequently, but he left for Lake Forest around the 1st of August.

You must have been intrigued, too, at this point.

Oh, I was very intrigued with him, there's no doubt about it. He was a great deal older than I and when my mother heard that I went out with a man so much older than I was, she was absolutely shocked and took a very dim view of it. I didn't care how old he was. I was determined to see him because I thought he was the most interesting man I knew.

You said that your mother had been very ill a year or so before. She had recovered then, I take it.

Well, she was better, or she got to be better during this summer.

I remember on the 10th of August Wendell Willkie and Rita Van Doren and another friend dined with me on my terrace, and Wendell was really at the height of his energy and charm, and he talked about politics and about books and I told him that I thought he should run for President. He didn't seem to think it was much of a possibility then, but he gave the impression of being quite equal to it.

How did Mrs. Willkie feel about this?