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"Well?" Melli asked

"What would you do if you wereto the rim

"Order another round," she said iht charitable of you People like a charitable fellow"

"I meant about the letter"

"You promised not to open it?" she said

"Well, not exactly I promised that if I opened it, I’d do exactly what it said inside"

"Gave an oath, did you?"

He nodded

She snatched it fro him to yelp He reached to take it back but she pulled away, turning it over in her fingers Mat suppressed an urge to reach for it again; he had played e to look the buffoon A wo more than to make a oing

Still, he began to sweat "Now, Melli…"

"I could open it for you," she said, leaning back against the other side of the bar, looking over the letter Nearby, aof ale, but she waved hih anyway Melli’s tavern was popular enough that she had a half-dozen serving girls taking care of the patrons One would get to him eventually "I could open it," she continued to Mat, "and could tell you what’s inside"

Bloody ashes! If she did that, he would have to do what it said Whatever it bloody said! All he had to do ait a feeeks, and he would be free He could wait that long Really, he could

"It wouldn’t do," Mat said, sitting up with a jerk as she reached her thumb between two sides of the letter, as if to rip it "I’d still have to do what it said, Melli Don’t you do that, now Be careful!"