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What? punish Nina? my little Nina? why, I want her to be happy! even with Darrell? it’s all so confused! I must stop thinking! I must talk! forget! say something! forget everything!

[He suddenly bursts into a flood of garrulity]

Mother asked for you, Nina—three days before the end. She said, “Where is Nina Leeds now, Charlie? When is she going to marry Gordon Shaw?” Her mind was wandering, poor woman! You remember how fond she always was of Gordon. She used to love to watch the football games when he was playing. He was so handsome and graceful, she always thought. She always loved a strong, healthy body. She took such strict care of her own, she walked miles every day, she loved bathing and boating in the summer even after she was sixty, she was never sick a day in her life until—

[He turns on —coldly]

You were right, Doctor Darrell. It was cancer.

[Then angrily]

But the doctor you sent me to, and the others he called in could do nothing for her—absolutely nothing! I might just as well have imported some witch doctors from the Solomon Islands! They at least would have diverted her in her last hours with their singing and dancing, but your specialists were a total loss!

[Suddenly with an insulting, ugly sneer, raising his voice]

I think you doctors are a pack of God-damned ignorant liars and hypocrites!

[Sharply]

Charlie!