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Page 128
"happened to be free" for lunch when she was or "in the neighborhood" when she was scheduled to see the travel agent. Linda was scarcely innocent enough to be taken in by these coincidences, but she was equally unlikely to put a stop to events that flattered her and that she enjoyed.
Linda was getting a double thrill. She was attracted by Peter as a man, but she was also aware that his interest in her was specially valuable because it could not possibly have even the smallest mercenary taint. It was remarkable, Linda thought, how stimulating it was to know you were attractive when you were not a good catch.
Since Linda did not undervalue herself, she had never felt the young men who dated her were principally interested in her money. She had been told often enough by people who did not want to marry her that she was an attractive girl with a sweet, cheerful disposition. Moreover, since most of the young men she knew were no more poverty-stricken than herself and had no need for a rich wife, to see her income as their principal interest in her would have been paranoid. But her invested capital certainly did not detract from her appeal either. No doubt it even added a certain charmyoung men with money are far more aware of the value of a wife with a good income than most others.
Peter, of course, knew her as a girl who had to work to live, and his interest in

 
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