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 "I believe it is. But I sha'nt undo it now. When I go home—" she nursed it in her other hand. "Didn't he speak of me at all?"

"He said he met you once—on the road."

She flashed a look of challenge at him. "Now do you blame me?"

"Not a bit. All I wonder is that you speak to me. You might be excused for washing your hands of the whole family."

"As though I could do such a thing! I'm not even angry at him now. I should like to be friends if it were possible."

Edmund thought a moment then he said: "I can't seem to get near Derek. He doesn't want to talk of his affairs at all. He just says he's done it and he wants to be let alone."

Her eyes filled with tears. "I am afraid you have come among very unhappy people for your holiday, Captain Vale."

"Don't pity me for that," he said, with a tremor in his voice. "Wherever you are, there is happiness for me."