keep my mouth shut."

"I suppose if Brent Taber had said, 'I don't want you to see that woman
again,' you wouldn't even have dropped around to say good-bye."

"Rhoda--you're being unreasonable."

"Unreasonable to expect the man who says he loves me to confide in me?"

"All right. I was wrong. What happened is this: When William Matson was
ready to leave Park Hill, he had no place to go, so I took him down to
my room. I went back to the hospital and Les King contacted me. He said
William Matson was really a man named Sam Baker who'd disappeared from
his home in upstate New York ten years ago. We went down to see him and
found him sitting in a chair with his throat cut."

"You've been involved in a murder and you didn't say a single, solitary
word--"

"Rhoda! I said I was sorry."

"I didn't see anything about it in the papers. I'm sure it wasn't on any
of the newscasts."

"Of course, it wasn't. The police didn't even question me. I called the
police and they came--two prowl-car men. Then they told Les and me to
wait. We waited, and after a while this Brent Taber came in. He told us
to go home and keep our mouths shut. Later, we were called downtown and
Taber talked to us."

"He told you to go home," Rhoda said sarcastically. "You also said the
man was killed in your room. Just where is your home, Mr. Corson?"

"I came here, Rhoda. I spent that night here."

"With a possible murder charge hanging over your head, you came here and
didn't say a word!"

Frank sprang up from the couch and turned, scowling. "Goddamn it! Don't
you believe me? Do you think I'm lying?"

"I don't know what to believe. I just feel--betrayed. But something else
is more important."

"What?"

"You acted like a child. Just because some man appeared out of nowhere,
you said _Yes, sir_ and _No, sir_ and _Sorry, sir_ and walked away.
Frank! I'm ashamed of you!"

In quick anger, his hand came back as though to slap her. But he dropped
it to his side and strode across the room and picked up his jacket.

"And so now you're walking out again. You just can't face up to
anything, can you, Doctor Corson."

He turned on her, his eyes blazing. "All right. Maybe everything you say
is true. Maybe I've seesawed and acted like a kid. If I have, it's
because of you. The thing in the Village had nothing to do with me
changing my mind about going into research. I did it because I thought
you wanted me to."

Now Rhoda was on her feet, too, her patr