But he said nothing.
Larry turned his back upon the two men. "We're through with this
bunch, Maggie. Put on a hat and a wrap, and let's go. We can send for
your things."
"No you don't, Maggie," snarled Barney, before Maggie could speak.
Old Jimmie made his first positive motion since entering the room. He
shifted quickly to Maggie's side and seized her arm.
"You're my daughter, and you stay with me!" he ordered. "I brought you
up, and you do exactly what I tell you to! You're not going with
Larry--he's lying about Barney. You stay with me!"
"Come on, let's go, Maggie," repeated Larry.
"You stay with me!" repeated Jimmie.
Thus ordered and appealed to, Maggie was areel with contradicting
thoughts and impulses while the three men awaited her action. In fact
she had no clear thought at all. She never knew later what determined
her course at this bewildered moment: perhaps it was partly a
continuance of her doubt of Larry, perhaps partly once more sheer
momentum, perhaps her instinctive feeling that her place was with the
man she believed to be her father.
"Yes, I'll stay with you," she said to Old Jimmie.
"That's the signal for you to be on your way, Larry Brainard!" Barney
snapped at him triumphantly.
Larry realized, all of a sudden, that his coming here was no more than
a splendid gesture to which his anger had excited him.
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