Before Midnight

"I told them I didn't want… oh well. Come in!"

The door opened slowly and there was Carol Wheelock, without coat or hat. As I left my chair she stopped, and apparently was about to turn and scoot, but I spoke. "Hello there. Come on in."

"Leave the door open," Younger said.

"I'm here," I told him.

"I know you are. With a woman in my hotel room the door stays open."

"I shouldn't have come." She stood. "I should have phoned, but with all the wiretapping--"

"It's all right." I was moving another chair up. "Mr. Younger is resting because he had a little paroxysm, nothing serious."

"Crap," Younger said. "Sit down. I want to talk to you anyway."

She still hesitated, then came on and sat. If she had eaten anything there was no noticeable result. She looked at me. "Does he know about Miss Frazee?"

I shook my head. "I hadn't got to that yet."

She looked at Younger. "I couldn't reach Miss Tescher, and I wanted to speak to you before Mr. Rollins. You know Miss Frazee is the head of the Women's Nature League. You remember it was mentioned last evening, and Mr. Dahlmann was very witty about it. He thought it would be amusing for her to win a prize, and of course she was going to, one of the first five."

"I didn't think he was witty," Younger declared.

She didn't press it, "Well, he thought he was. What I wanted to tell you, three hundred women, members of her league, have been working with Miss Frazee on the contest, and she has sent them the verses we got last night by long distance telephone, and they're working on them now--three hundred of them."

"Just a minute," I put in. "As Mr. Wolfe told you, she said they helped her, but not that they have the new verses. That's an assumption. I admit it has four legs."

Younger had raised himself to an elbow, and the open front of his pajama top showed a hairy chest. "Three hundred women?" he demanded.

"Right. So I doubt if you can sell Miss Frazee on your plan to split it five ways. You'll have to think up-"

"Get out!" he commanded. Not me; it was for Mrs. Wheelock. "Get out of here. I'm getting up and I haven't got any pants on. – -Wait a minute! You'll be in your room? Stay in your room until you hear from me. I'm going to find Rollins and the three of us are going to fight. We'll blow it so high they won't find any pieces. Stay in your room!"

He gave the covers a kick, proving he had been right about the pants, and she ran. I looked at my watch, and took my hat from the back of the chair.