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 message to me if he'd believed it himself! She didn't believe it! She made it plain enough, didn't she? She meant that her son sent me that message because he wanted me not to be so wretched as I would be if I thought I'd been the cause, and to make me understand that my name wouldn't be involved. Didn't she mean just that? She made it plain enough how she hates me, didn't she? Yes! And you're making something else pretty plain, Mr. Orbison!"

"I?" Orbison leaned more heavily upon the chair. "What am I making plain?"

Claire came close to him, facing him; she disregarded the others. "You know!" she said. "You've thought from the first I was getting him into trouble. You said so, and you as much as said I was a little fool. You did!"

"No—I"

"You did!" she said passionately. "You thought it! You've thought all along that I was nothing but a little fool and now you think it's proved! That's what you're making plain to me, Mr. Orbison, just as she made it plain how she hates me! Do you think I don't see it?"

Orbison answered her sharply. "There's a rather badly smashed young man down yonder in that