Jimmie, will you spill the business to Larry, or want me to?"
"I'll tell him. Listen, Larry." Maggie pricked up her ears; the talk
was now excitingly important. "We've got our very greatest game all
planned out. Stock-selling game; going to unload the whole thing on
one sucker, and we've got the sucker picked out. Besides you and
Barney and me, there's Red Hannigan and Jack Rosenfeldt in it--a
classy bunch all right. And we think that for the woman end we'll take
in Mae Gorham. She's clever and innocent-eyed--"
"But I thought you were going to take me in!" protested Maggie.
"Maggie'll be just as good as Mae Gorham," put in Barney.
"We'll let that pass," said Old Jimmie. "The main thing, Larry, is
that everything is ready. It's a whale of a business proposition.
We've been waiting for you; you're all that's lacking--the brainy guy
to sit behind the scenes and manage the thing. You've handled the
bunch for a long time, and they want you to handle this. For you're
sure a wonder at business, Larry! None keener. Well, we've held this
off waiting for you for a month. How about jumping right in?"
All three eyed Larry. His lean face was expressionless. He lit a
cigarette, rose and leaned against the Duchess's safe on which stood
the green parrot, and, gaze on the floor, slowly exhaled smoke through
his nostrils.
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