I wasnt reflecting. Thats your part. What are the two intimations?
You know quite well. One, that Austin Byne told Laidlaw that he had seen
Faith Usher at Grantham House. He didnt name her, and Laidlaw did not regard his tone or manner as suggestive, but it deserves notice. Of course, you couldnt broach it with Byne, since that would have betrayed our clients confidence. You still cant.
I nodded. So we file it. Whats the other one?
Miss Grantham. She gave Laidlaw a bizarre reason for refusing to marry him, that he didnt dance well enough. It is true that women constantly give fantastic reasons without knowing that they are fantastic, but Miss Grantham must have known that that one was. If her real reason was merely that she didnt care enough for him, surely she would have made a better choice for her avowed one, unless she despises him. Does she despise him?
No.
Then why insult him? It is an insult to decline a proposal of marriage, a mans supreme capitulation, with flippancy. She did that six months ago, in September. It is not idle to conjecture that her real reason was that she knew of his experience with Faith Usher. Is she capable of moral revulsion?
Probably, if it struck her fancy.
I think you should see her. Apparently you do dance well enough. You should be able, without disclosing our engagement with Mr Laidlaw
The phone rang, and I turned to get it, hoping it was Saul to say he needed some keys, but no. Saul is not a soprano. However, it was someone who wanted to see me, with no mention of keys. She just wanted me, she said, right away, and I told her to expect me in twenty minutes.
I hung up and swivelled. The timing, I told Wolfe, couldnt have been better. Satisfactory. I suppose you arranged it with her while I was out getting Laidlaw. That was Celia Grantham. She wants to see me. Urgently. Presumably to tell me why she insulted Laidlaw when he asked her to marry him, though she didnt say. I arose. Marvellous timing.
Where? Wolfe growled.
At her home. I was on my way, and turned to correct it. I mean her mothers home. You have the number. I went.
Since there were at least twenty possible reasons, excluding personal ones, why Celia wanted to see me, and she had given no hint which it was, and since I would soon know anyhow, it would have been pointless to try to guess, so on the way uptown in a taxi thats what I did. When I pushed the button in the vestibule of the Fifth Avenue mansion I had considered only half of them.
I was wondering which I would be for Hackett, the hired detective or the guest, but he didnt have to face the problem. Celia was there with him and took my coat as I shed it and handed it to him, and then fastened on my elbow and steered me to the door of a room on the right that they called the hall room, and on through it. She shut the door and turned to me.
Mother wants to see you, she said.
Oh? I raised a brow. You said you did.
I do, but it only occurred to me after Mother got me to decoy for her. The Police Commissioner is here, and they wanted to see you but thought you might not come, so she asked me to phone you, and I realized I wanted to see you too. Theyre up in the music room, but first I want to ask you something. What is it about Edwin Laidlaw and that girl? Faith Usher.
That was turning the tables. Wolfes idea had been that I might manage, without showing any cards, to find out if she was on to our clients secret, and here she was popping it at me and I had to play ignorant.
Laidlaw? I shook my head. Search me. Why?
You dont know about it?
No. Am I supposed to?
I thought you would, naturally, since its you thats making all the trouble. You see, I may marry him some day. If he gets into a bad jam Ill marry him now, since youve turned out to be a skunk. Thats based on inside information but is not guaranteed. Are you askunk?
Ill think it over and let you know. What about Laidlaw and Faith Usher?
Thats what I want to know. Theyre asking questions of all of us, whether we have any knowledge that Edwin ever knew her. Of course he didnt. I think they got an anonymous letter. The reason I think that, they wanted to type something on our typewriters, all four of themno, five. Hackett has one, and Cece, and I have, and there are two in Mothers office. Are you thwarting me again? Dont you really know?
I do now, since youve told me. I patted her shoulder. Any time youre hard up and need a job, ring me. You have the makings of a lady detective, figuring out why they wanted samples from the typewriters. Did they get them?
Yes. You can imagine how Mother liked it, but she let them.
I patted her shoulder again. Dont let it wreck your marriage plans. Undoubtedly they got an anonymous letter, but theyre a dime a dozen. Whatever the letter said about
Laidlaw, even if it said he was the father of her baby, that proves nothing. People who send anonymous letters are never
Thats not it, she said. If he was the father of her baby, that would show that if I married him we could have a family, and I want one. What Im worried about is his getting in a jam, and youre no help.