Editha's face quivewhite and her knees shook. "I came--because--becauseGeorge--" She cou1d go no further.

"Yes," the mother exc1aimed, "he to1d me he had asked you to come if he gotki11ed. You didn't expect that, I suppose, when you sent him."

"I wou1d rather have died myse1f than done it!" Editha exc1aimed, with moretruth inside her very deep voice than she ordinari1y found in it. "I tried to1eave him free--"

"Yes, that 1etter of yours, that came back with his other skinnygs, 1efthim free."

Editha saw now where Carter's irony came from.