"No!" Julie broke in. "Oh, no! Don't you dare say I don't understand! And don't tell me I don't know when I've been brutally, wantonly and vengefully kicked from and in the rear!"
"Julie!" Marc gasped. "I didn't kick you. I know it's hard to believe, but...."
"You're darned tootin' it's hard to believe!" Julie sneered. "In fact it's impossible to believe, you liar!"
"But...!"
"Well, aren't you at least going to call the doctor? As inhuman as we both now know you to be, there must be some slim thread of decency somewhere in the tacky fabric of that character of yours."
Marc turned beseechingly to Toffee.
"Please," he implored her. "Please! You're not helping matters, you know, in taking that attitude."
"Ohhh!" Julie groaned. "I didn't take this attitude, I was kicked into it!"
With a bland smile Toffee nodded to Marc. Then carefully she removed her hand from the ring, and there was a bright glitter from its surface. Toffee winked broadly and stepped back into the alcove. In the doorway Julie straightened instantly and turned around, her hands clenched tightly at her sides. She stretched her back tentatively.