gropin' round in the dark. I wantta be gerry to what's goin' on, and I wantta know when I'm gummin' the game."
"Precisely," the patient-eyed Kestner assured her. "And that's exactly why you and Wilsnach were sent for. There's a new kink in this case, and I've got to explain it. But I can't understand why Wilsnach's so late in reporting. By the way, did you see him after leaving the Alsatia?"
"No!"
"Did you see him before that Andelman dinner?"
Sadie, under her rice-powder, turned a shade or two pinker.
"Yes," she finally acknowledged.
"Where?"
"Up t' the Metropolitan."
"What Metropolitan?"
"The Museum wit' all those old Masters in it. Mista Wilsnach said it'd do me mind good. He's been tryin' to argue me into believin' that picture gallery guff's got something in it."
Kestner knew better than to smile openly. He wheeled about in his chair and toyed with the paper-weight on his table, apparently finding it difficult to phrase any fit reply to his companion's last re-
