Before Midnight

I could merely report that I kept my two-thirty appointment and got the verses and answers, and let it go at that, but I think it's about time you had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Talbott Heery. He was quite a surprise to me, I don't know why, unless I had unconsciously decided what a perfume tycoon should look like and he didn't match. Nor did he smell. He was over six feet, broader than me and some ten years older, and his clear smooth skin, stretched tight over the bones, didn't look as if it had ever needed to be shaved. Nor was there any sign of grease or soot or paint. He might have been a member of the Men's Nature League.

Buff and O'Garro were with him, but not Assa. They had to do some explaining to get me admitted to the vault. Buff and Heery and I went to a small room, and soon O'Garro and an attendant came with the box, only about five by three and eighteen inches long, evidently rented for this purpose exclusively. The attendant left, and O'Garro unlocked the box and opened it, and took out some envelopes, six of them. The sealed flaps had gobs of sealing wax. Four of them had been cut open. He asked me, "You want only the last group of five?"

I told him yes, and he handed me the two uncut envelopes. One of them was inscribed, "Verses, second group of five, Pour Amour Contest," and the other, "Answers, second group of five, Pour Amour Contest." As I got out my knife to slit them open O'Garro said, "I don't want to see them," and backed up against the end wall, and the others followed suit. From that distance they couldn't read typing, but they could watch me, and they did. There were pencils and paper pads on the table, but I preferred my pen and notebook, and sat down and used them. The five four-line verses were all on one sheet, and so were the answers--the names of five women, with brief explanations of the references in the verses.

It didn't take long. As I was folding the sheets and returning them to the envelopes, Buff spoke. "Your name is Archie Goodwin?"

"Right."

"Please write on each envelope, 'Opened, and the contents copied, by Archie Goodwin, on April thirteenth, nineteen-fifty-five, in the presence of Talbott Heery, Oliver Buff, and Patrick O'Garro,' and sign it."