JERRY BUMPUS
379
I said in the dryest, most measured of tones, "It is of course merely
a theory based on the impression we can piece together of your
Venolio's modus operandi. Above all, he is unpredictable. One might
go so far as to say he strives
to
be unknowable. But I have a hunch he'll
come. It's a long shot"-I leaned forward, winked, and whispered, "but
I'd bet my skin on it."
"Then you must stay!" Ursula said.
"Yes! You must!" Mrs. Sheehan said.
"Venolio has his Cooper Goggins," Ursula said.
"And we need one too," Mrs. Sheehan said. "Oh,
do
stay. I'll pay
you handsomely."
I leaned back, my hand
to
my chin. "Frankly, I had other plans."
Their faces crumbled. "I was on holiday, you know. Hiking the heath.
However ... " Their eyes brightened. "Your situation is intriguing.
You might say it has me trapped." I laughed ironically. "All right. I
agree to serve as your adviser."
"Hurrah!"
"On one condition."
"Anything! "
"Tina Buell's welfare must be placed entirely in my hands."
Without hesitating they agreed; after all, this was what they were
asking for, wasn't it?
We shook on it and, with toddies, toasted Tina's future. Then with
that crafty bravado for which counselors and ministers of war are
famous, I lifted my goblet
to
the window and the night beyond: "To
Venolio!" They stiffened, but then drank, peering intently at me over
the rims of their cups.
"Do tell me again about Tibet!" Tina said.
"There, child," Ursula Dolmon said, dozing by the fire. Mrs.
Sheehan looked up from her sewing. "You mustn't tire Mr. Green.
You've been at him all day."
''I'm not tiring him," Tina said. "Am I, Vance?"
I smiled into her waxed face, squarely framed with bangs and
straight black hair: she had been Asiatic this evening.
"Always gets her way," Ursula sighed. Mrs. Sheehan returned to
her stitches.
"Oh please," Tina said. "Travel widens, you know."
I obliged by repeating what Tina and the ladies had already heard
several times that day: A Season on Top of the World, beginning with
