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"Yes," Aht," Alice said over her shoulder

When those two agreed, they were almost certainly correct

"Say simply," Amanda said, "that the Women’s Free Press has reviewed its internal procedures and we are satisfied that the pieces we have printed were authored by our writers We are looking into this matter"

"But--"

"Add that ill allow the reporter from the London Review to exa that earlier versions of the columns were in our possession before the other newspapers went to press"

"But--"

"Don’t defend yourself, Free, until you can do it well You’ll have one chance to build your defense in the public eye Wait until your story is unassailable, or you’ll lose"

Da Free balled her hands into fists The telegralanced at felt like a knife to her heart Andrews’ Tinned Goods--she’d worked with theht, wasn’t fair, that they’d not even waited to hear her explanation before juuilt

"We in," Alice said behind her, setting her hand on her back

She didn’t want any of this Even if she fended off these accusations, every hour she spent defending against them was an hour not spent on issues of substance That bill of Rickard’s, flawed as it as unlikely to even come under discussion unless she helped do her part to put it on everyone’s lips The very act of spending energy on this hopeless morass was a loss, no matter how it turned out

She set her head in her hands

The door opened She turned, expecting the courier again

But instead of the bespectacled boy froram office in town, Mr Clark stood in the doorway He looked around the roo over that all-important response--and his eyes narrowed

"Where are the rowl

"What men?"

"The men I told you to hire" He took a step forward "I know you don’t trust me, but hat is at stake, I’d think you could at least bloody listen for a half minute"

"What men?" she echoed

He looked at her--really looked at her, taking in the ink stains on her chin, the drifts of telegrams on the table beside her

"Christ," he swore "You haven’t read ly "Trying to piece together a response to this accusation without any of the evidence you claimed to have but took with you I haven’t had ti an advertiserace--ould that have et rowled "I rong; I didn’t have the full plan This is not just about putting you in distress, Miss Marshall You need to be seen to be in distress by the entire world That hen your press is burned to the ground, everyone will believe it arson They’ll think that faced with the certainty of financial ruin, you set fire to everything for the insurance money in a fit of desperation"