I'm not trying to excuse myself. It's
a rotten story, for I was engaged to Marion then."
Suddenly he sat down beside Clayton and buried his face in his hands.
For some reason or other Clayton found himself back in the hospital,
that night when Joey lay still and quiet, and Graham was sobbing like
a child, prostrate on the white covering of the bed. With the
incredible rapidity of thought in a mental crisis, he saw the last
months, the boy's desire to go to France thwarted, his attempt to
interest himself in the business, the tool Marion Hayden had made of
him, Anna's doglike devotion, all leading inevitably to catastrophe.
And through it all he saw Natalie, holding Graham back from war,
providing him with extra money, excusing him, using his confidences
for her own ends, insidiously sapping the boy's confidence in his
father and himself.
"We'll have to stand up to this together, Graham."
The boy looked up.
"Then - you're not going to throw me over altogether - "
"No.
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