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Page 268
Everyone is leaving me. I need the money to pay Gertrude and Linda and the people I will need to take care of me when I become helpless. You see, there isn't anything wrong with my heart. I know that. I'll live a long time, and there won't be enough."
Linda's mouth dropped open and she turned to stare but all she saw was the boulder and the brush that surrounded it. She was so shocked that she didn't realize she hadn't moved.
"There'll be enough, Aunt Em." Peter's voice was shaking. "I swear there will be. I'll"
"No. You are lying again. I don't like it when you lie to me, Peter. George and Peter should never have made that agreement. The business should have come to me, not been willed to you. George had no right to leave Bates Limited to his sister's son. Why, you could cut me off without a shilling any time you please."
"It isn't true, Aunt Em. Your income is settled on you. I can't touch that. Uncle George wouldn't leave you unprotected. Your own solicitor explained it to you."
Linda stood silent, grateful now that she had not moved and was still hidden from them both. The poor woman was deranged! Whatever Mrs. Bates had had, stroke or attack, it had damaged her mind. Then Peter must have moved, because Mrs. Bates cried out angrily.
"Don't you come down," she ordered. "You have to stay there because it would be too much for me to push you off the cliff from down here. It was convenient that you mistreated Linda

 
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