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"I think you should know that unless you offer a public apology, the Brodies have threatened to sue for slander"

"What? I will not apologize!" She stood so quickly that her head doubled its pounding and she had to sit again "I told the truth"

"You were playing a gaaotten you into trouble--"

"Harold Brodie is a louse and a lothario who cheats at cards and has a different girl in his rumble seat every week That coupe of his is pos-i-tute-ly a petting palace And he’s a terrible kisser to boot"

Evie’s parents stared in stunned silence

"Or so I’ve heard"

"Can you prove your accusations?" her father pressed

She couldn’t Not without telling theize"

Evie’s mother cleared her throat "There is another option"

Evie glanced from her mother to her father and back "I won’t breeze to military school, either"

"No military school would have you," her father o to New York for a bit, to stay with your Uncle Will?"

"I… ah… as in, Manhattan?"

"We assu in her last dig "I spoke toHe would take you"

He would take you A burden lifted An act of charity Uncle Will

"Just for a few months," her father continued "Until this whole situation has sorted itself out"

New York City Speakeasies and shopping Broadway plays and ht, she’d dance at the Cotton Club Days she’d spend with Mabel Rose, dear old Mabesie, who lived in her uncle Will’s building She and Evie had one to New York for a few days Ever since, the girls had been pen pals In the last year, Evie’s correspondence had dwindled to a note here and there, though Mabel continued to send letters consistently, mostly about Uncle Will’s handsome assistant, Jericho, as alternately "painted by the brushstrokes of angels" and "a distant shore upon which I hope to land" Yes, Mabel needed her And Evie needed New York In New York, she could reinvent herself She could be somebody