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Fifty Candles

to assist me with some troublesome hooks in the back. We were together there when we heard the cry.”

“You heard a cry. What then?”

“My heart stood still. I tried to speak, but I couldn’t.”

Mary Will turned suddenly and faced her.

“I beg your pardon,” she said. “Your memory is slightly at fault. You had no difficulty in speaking. In fact, you spoke distinctly.”

“Nonsense! I don’t remember.”

“I do,” replied Mary Will firmly. “You said quite clearly, ‘He’s done it! He’s done it! You said it twice.”

“He’s done it?” repeated Barnes. “Just what, Mrs. Drew, did you mean by that?”

“If I said it at all,” answered Carlotta Drew icily, “which I doubt, I do not know what I meant. I was beside myself with terror.”

“But why should you be beside your-

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