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went on, he s’poses I care for you yet. Maybe that’s one reason he said what he did.

—But you don’t. You can’t. It’s outrageous. It’s stupid! You don’t love me!

—[Slowly.] I wouldn’t know how to feel love, even if I tried, any more.

—[Brutally.] And I don’t love you, that’s sure! [He sinks into his chair, his head between his hands.] It’s damnable such a thing should be between Rob and me—we that have been pals ever since we were born, almost. Why, I love Rob better’n anybody in the world and always did. There isn’t a thing on God’s green earth I wouldn’t have done to keep trouble away from him. And now I have to be the very one—it’s damnable! How am I going to face him again? What can I say to him now? [''He groans with anguished rage. After a pause''.] He asked me to promise—what am I going to do?

—You can promise—so’s it’ll ease his mind—and not mean anything.

—What? Lie to him now—when he’s dying? Can you believe I’d descend as low as that? And there’s no sense in my lying. He knows I don’t love you. [Determinedly.] No! It’s you who’ll have to do the lying, since it must be done. You’re the cause of all this. You’ve got to! You’ve got a chance now to undo some of all the suffering you’ve brought on Rob. Go in to him! Tell him you never loved me—it was all a mistake. Tell him you only said so because you were mad and didn’t know what