Before Midnight

Back in the office, I attended to the lights before going to my desk. There are eight different lights-one in the ceiling above a big bowl of banded Oriental alabaster, which is on the wall switch, one on the wall behind Wolfe's chair, one on his desk, one on my desk, one flooding the big globe, and three for the book shelves. The one on Wolfe's desk is strictly for business, like crossword puzzles. The one on the wall behind him is for reading. He likes all the others turned on, and after making the rounds I sat, picked up my notebook, and gave Harold Rollins a look.

"They have gone?" Wolfe asked

"Yes, sir. No comment."

Rollins was comfortable in the red leather chair, right at home, though one about half the size would have been better for him. He hadn't shrunk from underfeeding like Carol Wheelock; he looked healthy enough, what there was of him. Nor was there much to his face except a wide flexible mouth and glasses in thick black frames. You didn't see his nose and chin at all unless you concentrated.

It's hard to tell with glasses like those, but apparently he was returning my regard. "Your name's Goodwin, isn't it?" he asked.

I admitted it.

"Then it was you who sicked that man Younger on me. You don't expect me to be grateful, do you? I'm not." He switched to Wolfe. "We might as well start right. I made this appointment, and kept it, only to pass the time. I'm in this grotesque imbroglio, with no discoverable chance of emerging with honor and dignity, so why miss an opportunity of meeting an eminent bloodhound?" He smiled and shook his head. "No offense intended. I am hardly in a position to offend anybody. What are we going to talk about?"

Wolfe was contemplating him. "I suggest, Mr. Rollins, that your despair is excessive. My client is the firm of Lippert, Buff and Assa, but in many respects your interest runs with theirs, and their honor and dignity are involved with yours. Both may be salvaged; and in addition, you may get a substantial amount of money. You didn't like what Mr. Younger proposed?"

He was still smiling. "Of course I know I should make allowances."

"For Mr. Younger?"

"For all of you. Your frame of reference is utterly different from mine, in fact to me it seems quite contemptible, but it was my own thoughtlessness that got me entangled in it. I dug my own grave, that's true; but, realizing and confessing it, I may still resent the slime and the worms. Can you get me back my job?"

"Job?"