"
Patty passed the bag to her enemy. How to begin, how to begin!
"Mrs. Haldene!" Patty's voice was high-pitched and quavering.
"Why, Patty!"
"Why did you write this base letter to me!"--exhibiting the letter
resolutely. "Do not deny that you wrote it. It smells of
heliotrope--your favorite perfume."
"Patty Bennington, are you mad?" cried Mrs. Franklyn-Haldene. "What
letter? What do you mean?" She knew very well, but she had not
practised the control of her nerves all these years for nothing. "A
letter? I demand to see it."
But Patty reconsidered and withdrew her hand, concluding that Mrs.
Franklyn-Haldene could destroy the letter as easily as she had written
it; more easily, had Patty but known it.
"I prefer to read it to you." And Patty read, her tones sharp and
penetrating, finely tempered by anger.
"I write such a thing as that? You accuse me of writing an anonymous
letter of that caliber? You are mad, distinctly mad, and if I did what
was right I should ask you to leave this house instantly." Mrs.
Franklyn-Haldene rose to her full height, after the manner of
indignant persons on the stage.
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