The Rubber Band

She drew her shoulders in a little, a shade toward the center of her, and let them out again, in delicate disgust. "It was Mr. Muir that cured me of the idea of being an adventuress, I mean in the classical sense. Of course I knew that to be a successful adventuress you have to deal with men, and they have to be rich, and seeing what Mr. Muir was like made me look around a little, and I realized it would be next to impossible to find a rich man it would be any fun to be adventurous with. Mr. Muir seemed to go practically crazy after he had had dinner with me once or twice. Once he came to my apartment and almost forced his way in, and he had an enormous pearl necklace in his pocketl Of course it was disgusting in a way, but it was even more funny than it was disgusting, because I have never cared for pearls at all. But the worst thing about Mr. Muir is his stubbornness. He's a Scotchman, and apparently if he once gets an idea in his head he can't get it out again-"

Wolfe put in, "Is Mr. Muir a fool?"

"Why… yes, I suppose he is."

"I mean as a businessman. A man of affairs. Is he a fool?"

"No. Not that way. In fact, he's very shrewd."

"Well, you are." Wolfe sighed. "You are quite an amazing fool, Miss Fox. You know that Mr. Muir, who is a shrewd man, is prepared to swear out a warrant against you for grand larceny. Do you think that he would consider himself prepared if preparations had not actually been made? Why does he insist on immediate action? So that the preparations may not be interfered with, by design or by mischance. As soon as a warrant is in force against you, the police may search any property of yours, including that item of it where the thirty thousand dollars will be found. Couldn't Mr. Muir have taken it himself from his desk and put it anywhere he wanted to, with due circumspection?"

"Put it…" She stared at him. "Oh, no." She shook her head. "That would be too low. A man would have to be a dirty scoundrel to do that."

"Well? Who should know better than you, an ex-adventuress, that the race of dirty scoundrels has not yet been exterminated? By the eternal, Miss Fox, you should be tied in your cradle! Where do you live?"

"But, Mr. Wolfe… you could never persuade me…"

"I wouldn't waste time trying. Where do you live?"

"I have a little flat on East Sixty-first Street."

"And what other items? We can disregard your desk at the office, that would not be conclusive enough. Do you have a cottage in the country? A trunk in storage? An automobile?"