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"You miss them, don’t you?" he asked softly

I nodded, unable to speak aroundsobs

He nodded, hypothesis confirmed "As do I, Will Henry," he said "As do I"

He was quite sincere Both my parents had been in his employ; my mother had kept the doctor’s house, and one, his secrets At their funeral the doctor had laid a hand upon my shoulder and said, "I don’t knohat I shall do now, Will Henry Their services were indispensable toto the child left orphaned and hoeration to say my father had worshipped Dr Warthrop It would be ious lie-to say e of many years, I can state unequivocally that the chief cause of friction between thes for him and Father’s intense loyalty to hi any sense of obligation toward his wife or his only child That Father loved us, I have never had any doubt; he had simply loved the doctor more This was the root of my mother’s hatred for Dr Warthrop She was jealous She was betrayed And it was that sense of betrayal that led to the ht before the fire stole theh the thin walls of ainst the plaster like storainst a seawall, the culun hours earlier, usually when Father arrived late for dinner-late because the doctor had kept him There were times when Father did not return for dinner, times when he did not return for days When he at last cas at the door, he would raise his eyes fro pair belonging to , and say, "The doctor needed me"

"What of me?" she would cry "What of your son? What of our needs, Ja reply

"And you are all we have You disappear for days without a word to anyone about where you are going or when you’ll return And when you do finally drag your thoughtless carcass through the door, you will not say where you have been or what you’ve been doing"

"Now, do not go on with me, Mary," Father would caution her sternly "There are sos I can’t"

"Sos be, Ja!"

"I tell you what I can And what I can tell you is the doctor is engaged in very important work and he needs my help"

"But I do not? You force me into sin, Ja about?"

"The sin of false witness! The neighbors ask, ‘Where is your husband, Mary Henry? Where is Jaalls me to lie for him!"

"Then don’t Tell them the truth Tell them you don’t knohere I am"

"That would be worse than a lie What would they say about one?"

"I don’t understand why it should gall you, Mary If it weren’t for hi to hinored it "You don’t trust me"

"No I simply cannot betray his trust"

"An honorable man has no need for secrets"

"You don’t knohat you’re talking about, Mary Dr Warthrop is the e to serve him"

"Serve him in what?"

"His studies"

"What studies?"

"He is a scientist"

"A scientist of what?"

"Of… of certain biological phenoical pheno about? Birds? Is Pellinore Warthrop a bird-watcher, Jalasses?"