"Well, it will be good to see him.  I haven't laid eyes on him for a year and half, about." Jubal picked up a conversation with the man on his right while Nelson talked with Dorcas on his right.  Jubal noticed the same tingling expectancy at the table which he had felt before, but reinforced.  Yet there was still nothing he could put his finger on, just a quiet family dinner in relaxed intimacy.  Once, a glass of water was passed all around the table, but, if there was ritual of words with it, they were spoken too low to carry.  When it reached Jubal's placer he took a sip and passed it along to the girl on his left - round-eyed and too awed to make chit-chat with him - and himself said in a low voice, "I offer you water."