Of course, he did it more by volume than by vigor, but he did it.
It was after three when they got there.
Fritz ushered them in.
Calida Frost, Helen's mother, Lew's Aunt Callie-though I suppose it would be more genteel to introduce her as Mrs. Edwin Frost, since I never got to be cronies with her-she came first, and sure enough, she was the medium-sized woman with the straight back and proud mouth.
She was good-looking and well made, with deep but direct eyes of an off color, something like the reddish brown of dark beer, and you wouldn't have thought she was old enough to be the mother of a grownup goddess.
Dudley Frost, Lew's father, weighed two hundred pounds, from size rather than fat.
He had gray hair and a trimmed gray moustache.
Some rude collision had pushed his nose slightly off center, but only a dose observer like me would have noticed it.
He had on a beautiful gray pin-stripe suit and sported a red flower in his lapel.
Llewellyn went to the office door and brought them across and introduced them.
Dudley Frost rumbled at Wolfe,
“How do you do.”
He gave me one too.
“How do you do.”
I was getting chairs under them.
He turned to our client:
“What's all this, now?
What's the trouble, son?
Look out, Calida, your bag's going to fall.
What's up here, Mr. Wolfe?
I was hoping to get in some bridge this afternoon. What's the difficulty?
My son has explained to me-and to Mrs. Frost-my sister-in-law-we thought it best for him to come straight down here-”
Llewellyn blurted at him,
“Mr. Wolfe wants ten thousand dollars.”
He cackled.
“God bless me, so do I.
Though I've seen the time-but that's past.”
He gazed at Wolfe and in a change of pace ran all his words together:
“What do you want ten thousand dollars for, Mr. Wolfe?”
Wolfe looked grim, seeing already that he was up against it.
He said in one of his deeper tones,
“To deposit in my bank account.”
“Ha!
Good.
Damn good and I asked for it.
Strictly speaking, that was the only proper reply to my question.
I should have said, let me see, for what reason do you expect to get ten thousand dollars from anyone, and from whom do you expect it?
I hope not from me, for I haven't got it.
My son has explained to us that he engaged you tenta-tentatively for a certain kind of job in a fit of foolishness.
My son is a donkey, but surely you don't expect him to give you ten thousand dollars merely because he's a donkey?
I hope not, for he hasn't got it either.
Nor has my sister-in-law-have you, Calida?
What do you think, Calida?
Shall I go on with this?
Do you think I'm getting anywhere?”
Mrs. Edwin Frost was looking at Wolfe, and didn't bother to turn to her brother-in-law.
She said in a low pleasant tone,
“I think the most important thing is to explain to Mr. Wolfe that he jumped to a wrong conclusion about what Helen said.”
She smiled at Wolfe.
“My daughter Helen.