Mrs. Paine.

that is as far as I read. And Mr. Gopadze indicated that it was his impression that I had sent this note to Marina. And this surprised me. And I said----

Mr. Jenner.

That is a masterpiece of understatement, isn't it?

Mrs. Paine.

Yes; it certainly is. It astounded me. I said that---I repeated that I had not seen it and did not know how I might possibly have sent this to Marina Oswald. I asked if he thought the note was current, and he did not say.
We went on for some time with Mr. Gopadze--this in Russian--saying that "Mrs. Paine, it would be well for you to be absolutely frank and tell us exactly what happened" and my saying in turn to Mr. Gopadze, "I am. What more can I do than what I have said." And finally we went over to English and included Mr. Patterson in the conversation, and he volunteered this note had been in a book. Then I realized what must have happened is that I did send Marina Oswald a book, and described my having sent this to this Irving police and the Secret Service. And that seemed to clear up the mystery for all of us. And they left.
Then I don't recall whether this first reference to General Walker having been shot at was before or after this incident, but I am certain I made no connection between the two. It was not until it was reported by the Houston Chronicle that there was a note written by Lee Oswald at the time of the attempt on Walker's life, and they also reported some of the content of that note and included a reference to a post office box, that I made a connection to the note that had been shown me by Mr. Gopadze.
I bring this up because I was irritated by Mr. John Thorne's statement to me that he thought that I was probably the one to have given the Houston Chronicle information about this note. I was sufficiently irritated that I called the Houston Chronicle and spoke to the executive editor, asked if he could tell me who had given them this information. He said no, he could not. I said that I was curious, because someone had thought that I had. He said, "We can certainly tell anyone that you did not." But I don't think Mr. Thorne was interested enough to have made such a call himself.

Mr. Jenner.

Do you recall doing some shopping on the morning of the 9th after you had gone to the driver's license bureau and found it closed?

Mrs. Paine.

Yes, we shopped at a dime store immediately adjacent, or in the same shopping center as the driver's license bureau.

Mr. Jenner.

And some few small articles were purchased?

Mrs. Paine.

That is right.

Mr. Jenner.

And you arrived home when--about noon?

Mrs. Paine.

For a late lunch, I would say. I might say Lee was as gay as I have ever seen him in the car riding back to the house. He sang, he joked, he made puns, or he made up songs mutilating the Russian language, which tickled and pained, Marina, both at once.

Mr. Jenner.

What did he do that afternoon, if you recall?

Mrs. Paine.

I don't recall.

Mr. Jenner.

Did he look at television?

Mrs. Paine.

My guess is that he certainly looked at television.

Mr. Jenner.

Did you leave your home late that afternoon?

Mrs. Paine.

I went to vote. This would be a trip of perhaps 20 minutes.

Mr. Jenner.

And he was at home when you left? And was he at home when you returned?

Mrs. Paine.

Yes.

Mr. Jenner.

Now, at any time during that morning drive did you by any chance stop by a car dealers?

Mrs. Paine.

No.

Mr. Jenner.

Either going to or from the driver's license bureau?

Mrs. Paine.

No, we did not stop at a car dealers.

Mr. Jenner.

What is your opinion as to whether Lee Oswald could have been at the Lincoln-Mercury dealership in downtown Dallas on that day?

Mrs. Paine.

I think he could not have been.

Mr. Jenner.

Was he out of your sight other than the period of time it took you to go to the polls to vote that day?

Mrs. Paine.

It is entirely possible that I made a short trip to the grocery store in the afternoon. But I would say he was not out of my sight for any length of time.