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Clayton did not care to tell Natalie of Chris's flight She would learn

it soon enough, he knew, and he felt unwilling to discuss the affair as

Natalie would want to discuss it Not that he cared about Chris, but he

had begun to feel a protective interest in Audrey Valentine, an interest

that had in it a curious aversion to hearing her name in connection with

Chris's sordid story

He and Natalie met rarely in the next few days He dined frequently at

his club with men connected in various ith the new enterprise, and

transacted an enormous amount of business over the dinner or luncheon

table Natalie's door was always closed on those occasions when he

returned, and he felt that with the stubbornness characteristic of her

she was still harboring resentainst him for what he had said at

the hospital

He knew she was spending ue idea that she and Rodney together had been elaborating still

further on the plans for the house It was the furtiveness of it rather

than the fact itself that troubled hihtforward

himself Why couldn't Natalie be frank with hi her dinner-call in an age which