CHAPTER 13WHEN I came home to lunch I was surprised to find Gail curled up in the corner of the sofa in the living room reading a magazine. Her job as Alice Penniman’s social secretary normally keeps her away until the late afternoon. I hadn’t taken her falling out with Nat as seriously, I suppose, as I should have done.
“I’ve quit being Mrs. Penniman’s functotum,” she announced with amiable malice. “In fact I’m carrying on the Wyndham tradition. I’m never going to put my foot in her house again.”
I sat down and took off my hat.
“That’s too bad,” I said. “Did you just decide that, or have you got a reason?”
“I’ve got a dozen reasons,” she replied promptly. She reached for a cigarette and lighted it with deadly calmness.
“One of them being that you don’t need fifty dollars a month any
