"I had been flirting with her a little - it wasn't much more than
that, and I gave her a watch at Christmas. He found it out, and he
beat her. Awfully. She ran away and sent for me, and I met her.
She had to hide for days. Her face was all bruised. Then she got
sick from it. She was sick for weeks."
"Did he know where she was?"
"I think not, or he'd have gone to get her. But Rudolph Klein knew
something. I took her out to dinner, to a roadhouse, a few days ago,
and she said she saw him there. I didn't. All that time, weeks,
I'd never - I'd never gone to her room. That night I did. I don't
know why. I - "
"Go on."
"Well, I went, but I didn't stay. I couldn't. I guess she thought
I was crazy. I went away, that's all. And the next day I felt that
she might be feeling as though I'd turned her down or something.
And I felt responsible. Maybe you won't understand. I don't quite
myself. Anyhow, I went back, to let her know I wasn't quite a brute,
even if - But she was gone.
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