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always.
    â€œSaw Ted Carter today,” said Charles Partridge. “Had his wife with him. Nice-looking girl.”
    â€œHumph,” said the doctor.
    â€œNow hold on, Matt,” said Leslie. “You can't hold it against Carter forever just because he didn't stick by Selena Cross. After all.”
    â€œAfter all, my ass,” said Dr. Swain. “None of my business anyhow. Come on, deal.”
    â€œA young feller like that, trying to make something of himself and get ahead in the world. You can't blame him,” continued Leslie, as if Matt had not spoken. “It'd be all right if he was going to stay right here in Peyton Place, but it wouldn't do for him to have a wife like that anywhere else. People got long memories, most of ’em.”
    â€œYes, they do,” said Seth Buswell. “And not only about murder. There's other things folks remember.”
    â€œWhat the hell are you trying to say, Seth?” demanded Leslie. “Come on, spit it out. Better to say it than sit there thinking it all evening.”
    Seth threw his cards down on the table. “About Betty Anderson and her kid, for one thing,” he said angrily.
    Leslie looked as if Seth had slapped him across the mouth.
    â€œNow, now,” said Charles Partridge. “All that's over and done with. Water over the dam. Doesn't do any good at all to keep bringing it up. Let's play cards.”
    â€œWho brought anything up?” demanded Seth. “Did I start anything? It just seems to me that before Leslie starts in talking about anybody else in town, he ought to look after his own fences.”
    Leslie put his cards down very quietly and looked Seth straight in the eye.
    â€œI've been trying to find that girl for two years,” he said quietly.
    His three friends stared at him in disbelief, but there was no mistaking the truth etched in the suddenly obvious lines in Leslie's face.
    â€œWhy?” asked Matthew Swain gently.
    â€œGoddamn it,” cried Leslie, “because of my grandson. That's why. He's the last of the Harringtons, and I don't know where he is.”
    â€œWhy didn't you let us help you, Leslie?” asked Charles. “We didn't know.”
    â€œWell, I'd never lift a goddamned finger to help you, Leslie,” said Seth angrily. “What're you trying to pull anyway? You want to find the girl so that you can get her baby away from her, is that it?”
    â€œSeth,” said Matt Swain. “Be quiet a minute.”
    â€œI never said I wanted to take the boy away from his mother,” said Leslie defensively. “If I found them, naturally I'd take them both in. If she wanted to come, I mean.”
    â€œYeah, and you'd make damn sure she didn't want to, wouldn't you?” said Seth bitterly. “Christ, but you are a son-of-a-bitch, Harrington. You always were, but I was dumb enough to think you'd changed with age.”
    â€œSeth!” shouted Dr. Swain. “Shut up!” He turned back to Leslie Harrington.
    â€œWould you, Leslie?” he asked. “Take them both in, I mean?”
    Leslie looked at his hands. “Yes,” he said at last. “I would. I want to. But I've done everything I know how, and I still can't find her.”
    â€œWhat have you tried, Leslie?” asked Charles.
    â€œChrist, I even went to that goddamned family of hers. If they knew anything, they weren't telling, and, as for the girl, she never did have an aunt over to Rutland.”
    â€œAnything else?” asked Seth, still not convinced of Leslie's motives.
    â€œWell, what the hell else could I do?” demanded Leslie. “Listen, Seth, I know how it sounds. But, Jesus, I couldn't go to Buck McCracken. And as for that Missing Persons outfit, they'd have had cops all over town asking questions. I even thought of hiring a private detective, but they'd have been the same way. I tell you, I was afraid.”
    It was a word that Seth had never thought he'd hear