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"Oh, Miss Olivia Your father? I haven't seen him since we helped him upstairs He fell asleep and didn't come down for any supper"

"What about Belinda?" I asked

"I heard her in the kitchen a little while after you left I ca to eat and then she went upstairs, too I thought she fell asleep as well, but an hour ago, I heard someone come to the door and she left"

"Okay, Car," I said and left her my home number

Sa television in our den when I returned to our new home He wanted to know all about the work I had done, but I told him I was too tired to repeat or describe it

"Suffice it to say, it was considerable, Sareat deal left to do"

"Well," he said slapping his hands together and rubbing the pal tomorrow, I'll be there to help, Olivia I'll take up the slack That's a pro here"

"We already have built soot to hold onto it," I said dryly

"Sure Absolutely," he agreed

I had soht to bed Sa television In the days to come, I had to interview and appoint our servants, as well as see if I could get Daddy back to work I needed all th I remember I was so exhausted, it didn't occur to hts were out that tonight was the first night I was sleeping in my new home

In the days and then weeks that followed, I became more and more concerned about Daddy He returned to work, but I could see he was still drinking too ood care of himself and occasionally looked as if he had slep

t in the clothes he wore to the office I noticed that he often had problems with his concentration It took hi that would ordinarily take him minutes He started to look so rayer; the lines in his face grew deeper and his once powerful, straight posture degenerated until he walked with a slight bend in his torso as if his sadness had turned into lead weight on his shoulders

It was pointless to ask hione from the house and Daddy was distracted, she was like a balloon soet control over her Her whims blew her randomly from one place to another She avoided me as much as possible, was rarely ho ready to et hi

"She was never very stable as it was, Daddy, and that ith my and your supervision Now that I'ot to take oes Don't give her so much money Get her to think about her future"

"I know," he would say "I will," he would pronet that had lost its powers Everything that had stuck to it before, floated off, drifted away, fell out of his hts