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Page 134
ill-guided whip top. A long sigh trickled out of her, and she leaned back against the windows of the narrow train passage. A deep male chuckle-brought her head around sharply.
''Thought you'd never make it, didn't you, m'dear?" the general asked, his voice lowered to a growl that the clackety-clack of the train would cover.
"I never would have made it without you," Linda replied gratefully.
"Well, maybe not," he agreed with a second chuckle. "Come and have a drink with me and catch your breath."
A drink! Linda sighed again, this time with pleasure. She certainly needed a drink. And she didn't feel in the least guilty about needing one, she realized. She deserved a drink!
As they settled into comfortable chairs in the club car, Linda's mind passed over the events of the past few hours. She sputtered, trying to hold back a giggle, and then gave up and laughed aloud.
The general had given their order. Now he looked at her and, in a moment, he was laughing, too. "Plenty of uses for an orderly room voice, even out of the army," he chortled.
"Yes," Linda gasped, wiping away tears of mirth. "Oh, yes." She shook her head. "I did think that three hours was enough time to get from Mrs. Bates's house to the trainI mean, even with traffic, it's only a twenty-minute drive. But I knew we'd had it when Mrs. Sotheby announced that her white

 
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