“I protest.” A note that they had never heard from Julia made steel of the thrilling melody of her voice. “You must know that is not true!” she said in an accusing voice. “Be fair to them! Tell the truth to yourselves! If they took advantage of our innocence and ignorance, it was we who tempted them to it in the first place. As for our innocence and ignorance—you speak as, if they were beautiful or desirable. We were innocent and ignorant of earth-conditions because we were too proud to learn about them, because we always assumed that we lowered ourselves by knowing anything about them. Our mistake was that we learned to fly before we learned to walk.”
“But, Julia, what are we going to do about Angela?” Peachy asked impatiently.
“I’m coming to that presently,” Julia answered. “But before—I want to ask you a question. Do you remember the big cave in the northern reef—the one we used to hide in?”
“Oh, I remember,” Lulu said, “perfectly.”
“Did you ever tell Honey about it?” Julia turned to her directly.
“No. Why, we promised never to tell, didn’t we? In case we ever needed a place of refuge—.”
“Have any of you ever told about it?” Julia turned to the others. “Think carefully! This is important.”
“I never have told,” Peachy said wearily. “But about Angela—.”
“Have you, Chiquita?” Julia interrupted with a strange insistence.
“I have never thought of it from that day to this,” Chiquita answered.