him and Nora, but could get Wolfe, in profile, only by sticking my nose into the hole and pressing my forehead against the upper edge.
WOLFE: I'm sorry you had to wait, Miss Kent. It is Miss Kent'
NORA: Yes. I am employed by Mr. Otis Jarrell. His stenographer. I believe you know him.
WOLFE: There is no taboo on beliefs, or shouldn't be. The right to believe will be the last to go. Proceed.
NORA: You do know Mr. Jarrell'
WOLFE: My dear madam. I have rights too-for instance, the right to decline inquisition by a stranger. You are not here by appointment.
(That was meant to cut. If it did, no blood showed.)
NORA: There wasn't time to make one. I had to see you at once. I had to ask you why you sent your confidential assistant, Archie Goodwin, to take a job with Mr. Jarrell as his secretary.
WOLFE: I wasn't aware that I had done so. Archie, did I send you to take a job as Mr. Jarrell's secretary'
ORRIE: No, sir, not that I remember.
NORA: (with no glance at Orrie) He's not Archie Goodwin. I knew Archie Goodwin the minute I saw him, Monday afternoon. I keep a scrapbook, Mr. Wolfe, a personal scrapbook. Among the things I put in it are pictures of people who have done things that I admire. There are three pictures of you, two from newspapers and one from a magazine, put in at different times, and one of Archie Goodwin. It was in the Gazette last year when you caught that murderer-you remember-Patrick Degan. I knew him the minute I saw him, and after I looked in my scrapbook there was no question about it.
(Orrie was looking straight at the pretty picture of the waterfall, at me though he couldn't see me, with blood in his eye, and I couldn't blame him. He had been given to understand that the part was a cinch, that he wouldn't have to do or say anything to avert suspicion because she wouldn't have any. And there he was, a monkey. I couldn't blame him.)
WOLFE: (not visibly fazed, but also a monkey) I am flattered, Miss Kent, to be in your scrapbook. No doubt Mr. Goodwin is also flattered, though he might challenge your taste in having three pictures of me and only one of him. It will save-
NORA: Why did you send him there'
WOLFE: If you please. It will save time, and also breath, to proceed on an assumption, without prejudice. Obviously you're convinced that Mr. Goodwin took a job as Mr. Jarrell's secretary, and that I sent him, and it would be futile to try to talk you out of it. So we'll assume you're right. I don't concede it, but I'm willing to assume it for the sake of discussion. What about it'
NORA: I am right! You know it!
WOLFE: No. You may have it as an assumption, but not as a fact. What difference does it make'Let's get on. Did Mr. Goodwin take the job under his own name'
NORA: Certainly not. You know he didn't. Mr. Jarrell introduced him to me as Alan Green.
WOLFE: Did you tell Mr. Jarrell that that wasn't his real name'That you recognized him as Archie Goodwin'
NORA: No.
WOLFE: Why not'
NORA: Because I wasn't sure what the situation was. I thought that Mr. Jarrell might have hired you to do something and he knew who Green was, but he didn't want me to know or anyone else. I thought in that case I had better keep it to myself. But now it's different. Now I think that someone else may have hired you, someone who wanted to know something about Mr. Jarrell's affairs, and you arranged somehow for Goodwin to take that job, and Mr. Jarrell doesn't know who he is.
WOLFE: You didn't have to come to me to settle that. Ask Mr. Jarrell. Have you'
NORA: No. I told you why. And then-there are reasons&
WOLFE: There often are. If none are at hand we contrive some. A moment ago you said, 'But now it's different.' What changed it'
NORA: You know what changed it. Murder. The murder of Jim Eber. Archie Goodwin has told you all about it.
WOLFE: I'm willing to include that in the assumption. I think, madam, you had better tell me why you came here and what you want-still, of course, on our assumption.
(I said
WOLFE: I'm sorry you had to wait, Miss Kent. It is Miss Kent'
NORA: Yes. I am employed by Mr. Otis Jarrell. His stenographer. I believe you know him.
WOLFE: There is no taboo on beliefs, or shouldn't be. The right to believe will be the last to go. Proceed.
NORA: You do know Mr. Jarrell'
WOLFE: My dear madam. I have rights too-for instance, the right to decline inquisition by a stranger. You are not here by appointment.
(That was meant to cut. If it did, no blood showed.)
NORA: There wasn't time to make one. I had to see you at once. I had to ask you why you sent your confidential assistant, Archie Goodwin, to take a job with Mr. Jarrell as his secretary.
WOLFE: I wasn't aware that I had done so. Archie, did I send you to take a job as Mr. Jarrell's secretary'
ORRIE: No, sir, not that I remember.
NORA: (with no glance at Orrie) He's not Archie Goodwin. I knew Archie Goodwin the minute I saw him, Monday afternoon. I keep a scrapbook, Mr. Wolfe, a personal scrapbook. Among the things I put in it are pictures of people who have done things that I admire. There are three pictures of you, two from newspapers and one from a magazine, put in at different times, and one of Archie Goodwin. It was in the Gazette last year when you caught that murderer-you remember-Patrick Degan. I knew him the minute I saw him, and after I looked in my scrapbook there was no question about it.
(Orrie was looking straight at the pretty picture of the waterfall, at me though he couldn't see me, with blood in his eye, and I couldn't blame him. He had been given to understand that the part was a cinch, that he wouldn't have to do or say anything to avert suspicion because she wouldn't have any. And there he was, a monkey. I couldn't blame him.)
WOLFE: (not visibly fazed, but also a monkey) I am flattered, Miss Kent, to be in your scrapbook. No doubt Mr. Goodwin is also flattered, though he might challenge your taste in having three pictures of me and only one of him. It will save-
NORA: Why did you send him there'
WOLFE: If you please. It will save time, and also breath, to proceed on an assumption, without prejudice. Obviously you're convinced that Mr. Goodwin took a job as Mr. Jarrell's secretary, and that I sent him, and it would be futile to try to talk you out of it. So we'll assume you're right. I don't concede it, but I'm willing to assume it for the sake of discussion. What about it'
NORA: I am right! You know it!
WOLFE: No. You may have it as an assumption, but not as a fact. What difference does it make'Let's get on. Did Mr. Goodwin take the job under his own name'
NORA: Certainly not. You know he didn't. Mr. Jarrell introduced him to me as Alan Green.
WOLFE: Did you tell Mr. Jarrell that that wasn't his real name'That you recognized him as Archie Goodwin'
NORA: No.
WOLFE: Why not'
NORA: Because I wasn't sure what the situation was. I thought that Mr. Jarrell might have hired you to do something and he knew who Green was, but he didn't want me to know or anyone else. I thought in that case I had better keep it to myself. But now it's different. Now I think that someone else may have hired you, someone who wanted to know something about Mr. Jarrell's affairs, and you arranged somehow for Goodwin to take that job, and Mr. Jarrell doesn't know who he is.
WOLFE: You didn't have to come to me to settle that. Ask Mr. Jarrell. Have you'
NORA: No. I told you why. And then-there are reasons&
WOLFE: There often are. If none are at hand we contrive some. A moment ago you said, 'But now it's different.' What changed it'
NORA: You know what changed it. Murder. The murder of Jim Eber. Archie Goodwin has told you all about it.
WOLFE: I'm willing to include that in the assumption. I think, madam, you had better tell me why you came here and what you want-still, of course, on our assumption.
(I said
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