THE DETECTIVE
15
room,' of course unused now; in August.
It
did not occur to
him
to
poke into the furnace room: for thirty years he'd kept his nose
clean, and he was too used to his decent way of life. This corridor,
now, went to the rooms of the kitchen-men and elevator boys, an
area of unpleasant sights and stinks; hence he went left again, back
to the section beneath the kitchen. Here he found
his
path blocked
by heaps of dirty linens-towels, pillowslips, spreads, blankets, nap–
kins, tablecloths, workclothes, uniforms-all bundled up in sheets
tied by four comers. He realized he was headed for the linen room,
the domain of that witch, Mrs. Jewett. All right, then why was he
here? he asked himself as he clambered over and around the heaped
bundles. The question remained unanswered as he turned the
comer and emerged into a bright and dry zone of the cellar, rather
towards the front of the building under the
airy
lobby, he should
have thought, but as it turned out in a little while he was quite
wrong. He had been drawn on by the sound of women's laughter.
A half dozen of the maids, three white, three colored, were standing
in line, smoking and chattering, waiting while the housekeeper
counted linens out to them. And there was Mrs. Jewett behind her
chicken-wire grill, her grey head bent, her liverspotted hands
skimming piles of towels and from long custom picking up batches
of exactly ten. The girls fell silent as he burst on them, and the
housekeeper looked up, sharpeyed and testy and shrewd.
"Well, Mr. Acker, how d'ye do this evening!"
"Fine fine, Mrs. Jewett.
If
you'll excuse me...."
"Well, well, what is it I can do for you? You look as if you
wanted something.
It
is a surprise to see you still here on a Saturday
night; shouldn't you be home to supper? Is there something wrong?"
"I'm sorry to be bothering you, Mrs. Jewett. I know how you
must 'be busy, Saturday night and everything, finishing up here,
and it's late enough-"
"Late indeed, sir, and you
are
bothering me! Don't beat about
the bushes. Come on, speak up."
"Frankly, I don't know exactly, I was just walking around
here and ..."
"What! Mister Solomon Acker! Just speak up, man! My girls
can't :wait here all night while you stroll about through this miser-
