Peewee shivered. He did not recall that when the woman, pressing her cracked and burning lips on his, had told him that he was her son, the feeling which she had given him was that she was "nuts." He had heard his father acknowledge the truth of what she said. Then other people had acknowledged it. He had forgotten his first impression in his conviction that it was so. But if he understood Beman correctly, they all had been merely "nuts."
Jeffrey was speaking.
"But you don't agree then with the nurse?"
"As to the woman's motives, you mean?" This was Beman. "It may have been that way, of course. On the other hand, it may have been revenge. When this Helen Lampert saw Walter she may have seen Marion too. The contrast between Marion and herself—poor, hard up and, she may have known, dying—must have been bitter for her. Afterward she saw the boy and noted the resemblance and learned that nothing was known about him. She may very well have felt that here was the chance for her to re-
