You and he are going to work together, and that means - what?”

“It means, I hope, that I’m going to learn a lot.”

“From associating with Chan?”

“Precisely.”

“And if you associate with my guest, you’ll be bound to stumble over me occasionally. I’m a wise lad. I saw it coming.”

“I don’t understand. Why should you want me to stumble over you?”

“Because every time you do I’ll leap up and look at you, and that will be another red-letter day in my life.”

She shook her head. “I’m afraid you’re terribly frivolous. If I see much of you, you’ll drag me down and down until I lose my job.”

“Look on the other side, lady,” he pleaded. “You might drag me up and up. It could be done, you know.”

“I doubt it,” she told him.

Chan came into the room, and Paradise, unperturbed by the impromptu guests, served a noble luncheon. Toward its close, Kirk spoke seriously.

“I’ve been thinking about this Barr girl downstairs,” he said. “I don’t know that I’ve told you the circumstances under which Sir Frederic came to stay with me. His son happens to be an acquaintance of mine - not a friend, I know him only slightly - and he wrote me his father was to be in San Francisco. I called on Sir Frederic at his hotel. From the start he appeared keenly interested in the Kirk Building. I couldn’t quite figure it out. He asked me a lot of questions, and when he learned that I lived on the roof, I must say he practically invited himself to stop with me. Not that I wasn’t delighted to have him, you understand - but somehow there was an undercurrent in the talk - well, I just sensed his eagerness. It was odd, wasn’t it?”

“Very,” said the girl.

“Well, after he’d been here a couple of days he began to ask questions about the Calcutta Importers, and finally these all seemed to center on Miss Lila Barr. I knew nothing about the firm or about Miss Barr - I’d never even heard of her. Later he found that my secretary, Kinsey, knew the girl, and the questions were all turned in that direction - though I fancied they grew more discreet. One day in the office I heard Kinsey ask Sir Frederic if he’d like to meet Miss Barr, and I also heard Sir Frederic’s answer.”

“What did he say?” Miss Morrow inquired.

“He said simply, ‘Later, perhaps,’ with what I thought an assumed carelessness. I don’t know whether all this is important or not?”

“In view of the fact that Miss Lila Barr once left Sir Frederic’s presence in tears, I should say it is very important,” Miss Morrow returned. “Don’t you agree, Mr. Chan?”

Chan nodded. “Miss Barr has fiercely interesting sound,” he agreed. “I long with deep fervor to hear you question her.”

The girl rose from the table. “I’ll call the office of the Calcutta Importers and ask her to step up here,” she announced, and went to the telephone.

Five minutes later Miss Lila Barr entered the living-room under the impeccable chaperonage of Paradise. She stood for a second regarding the three people who awaited her. They noted that she was an extremely pretty girl slightly under middle height, an authentic blonde, with a sort of startled innocence in her blue eyes.

“Thank you for coming.” The deputy district attorney rose and smiled at the girl in kindly fashion. “I am Miss Morrow, and this is Mr. Charles Chan.