CHAPTER TWELVE
Gasless VehicleGamadge took a cab to the drugstore where he had left the books, got his parcel, and drove home. He left all but the book of views in his office; the flat green quarto he took upstairs with him to the library.
His wife and Arline Prady were playing backgammon. Clara sprang up and rushed to him as usual; Arline looked disappointed. “Where’s Harold?” she asked.
“In the suburbs.”
“Oh. Then I’ll be going.”
This did not mean that Arline only liked to be at the Gamadges’ when Harold was there; she always liked to be at the Gamadges’, but she had been brought up to think that no man can bear the sight of an extra woman.
“You mustn’t go,” said Gamadge. “I have a job for you.”
Arline’s face lighted. “Did you say a job?”
“With full operative’s pay and expenses.
