CHAPTER XII — A RED TAXIMETER The Astor Hotel faces on to Times Square. A few paces to the right of the main entrance the Times Building towers to the sky; and at the foot of this the stream of traffic breaks, forming two channels. To the right of the building is Seventh Avenue, quiet, dark, and dull. To the left is Broadway, the Great White Way, the longest, straightest, brightest, wickedest street in the world. Psmith and Billy, having left the Astor, started to walk down Broadway to Billy's lodgings in Fourteenth Street. The usual crowd was drifting slowly up and down in the glare of the white lights. They had reached Herald Square, when a voice behind them exclaimed, "Why, it's Mr. Windsor!" They wheeled round. A flashily dressed man was standing with outstetched hand. "I saw you

