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Page 24
An arrested expression froze the young man's mobile face. He shook his head. "You're a card, Aunt Em. There's no saying you aren't."
"After all," Mrs. Bates said cajolingly, "I could not show favoritism, could I? If I accepted someone you presented to me, Rose-Anne would be so hurt. And Donald would go about sneering more than ever."
"Okay. You did right. I've found just the right woman for you, too. All you have to do is say she answered your ad, and we won't have any trouble."
Linda, quietly sipping her tea, was furious. She could have wept with frustration, too. It seemed to her that she had been making headway. Mrs. Bates was just the type to be sorry for a poor orphan. And when she explained that she had stretched her insurance policy too far and was now nearly without fundsthe reason she had decided on for seeking employmentshe was sure Mrs. Bates would hire her without expecting references to be offered immediately. Now all her plans had been upset by this gangling, overbearing idiot.
"But I can't hire her," Mrs. Bates was saying, almost tearfully. "I have just engaged Miss Hepler."
Linda's eyes flew to Mrs. Bates, who had just turned away from her nephew, and met a decidedly pleading expression. Before she could speak, however, Mrs. Bates continued more firmly.
"I'm sorry, Peter. You will just have to explain

 
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