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 called clever women! You ought to make a good thing out of the case."

Kennedy went back to Carbies after Dr. Lansdowne dropped him, made his way back as quickly as possible. Margaret had bidden him return to tell her what had been said.

"Not that I believe in him or in anything he may have told you. He did not even listen to my heart, he was so busy talking and grinning and reassuring me. What did he tell you? That he heard a murmur? I am so sick of that murmur. I have been hearing of it ever since I was a child."

Peter slurred over everything Lansdowne had said to him, except that she must be kept quiet; she must not allow herself to get excited. He implored her to keep very quiet. She laughed and asked whether he thought he had a calmative influence? He put his arms about her for all that she resisted him and blubbered over her like the great baby he was.

"I adore you, I want to take care of you, and you won't look at anybody but him."

She pushed him away, told him she could not bear to be touched.

"If it hadn't been for him? Tell me, if it hadn't been for Gabriel Stanton it would have been me, wouldn't it? You do like me a little, don't you?"

It was impossible to keep him at a proper distance.