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 done all that can be expected of you. It's a curious coincidence, though—I'll use it in my next novel."

The mere statement of the case had relieved Victoria's feelings, the events sunk to their proper proportion with reference to herself; the shock of recognition was past, and the world was proceeding much as usual.

"I'm glad I told you about it," she went on. "One cannot see a thing in one's mind as clearly as a thing taken out, concreted and put into words; it then becomes an entity you can turn over and consider. When it's jammed inside your skull it takes up all the available room."

She stretched herself and relaxed with the graceful completeness of a cat, nerves and muscles let down from their tension.

"Anne," she spoke again, "I now understand why you keep your workroom so bare and plain. It makes one clear and concise in thought. I could never have stated my case so quickly—pardon a little bouquet that I throw myself—or so well at Madame Despard's, for instance. 130