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formidable obstacle to Charlie's plan than Theodore himself. |
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The reunion was played out in a predictable scene of tensionhalf-hearted embraces, clumsy introductions and periods of strained silence. Peggy's irritating habit of clearing her throat betrayed her discomfort with the situation. It was only one of several chinks in the woman's social armor that she had never learned to control. Peggy cleared her throat when she was nervous and when she was lying. Both, Charlie had long ago learned, were frequent occurrences. |
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They retired to a conversation pit, an enormous circular sofa that embraced most of the intimate brick-walled room with massive windows that overlooked the harbor. The conversation was tenuous with meaningless exchanges of pleasantries over weak martinis, a drink that Theodore had never mastered at full strength. And, when the small talk ceased altogether, Betty Elizabeth escorted Peggy from the room on the pretense that she needed to know where to put her things. It was, in the final analysis, probably less uncomfortable for the women because they understood and accepted each other. The same anatomical phenomenon had gotten them both where they were now, and universal sisterhood, in that sense, bonded them. |
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The animosity between the two men had no |
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