"Looking for me?"
"Yes, come on," Kay Natello said, in the voice which was so like an overstrained buzz-saw.
"The most marvellous thing, darling," Ferdinand burbled. "Magnamount's going to do a picture around Cookie's Canteen. We'll all be in it. And you're to have a good role. So come along. Cookie wants to be sure you'll play before she signs up with Mr. Pfeffer."
"Mr. Pfeffer being—?"
"The producer, dear girl. He's very quaint."
Avalon stood in indecision for a moment. She seemed to find nothing to say. But at last she said: "Okay. You two run along. I'll join you shortly. At Cookie's?"
"But you can't possibly," Ferdinand objected. "And surely you haven't anything to do in this dismal place. You couldn't be interested in any of the sordid characters who find their way in here. What are you doing here anyway?"
"I lost a gold compact and a pair of earrings out of my purse in a taxi," she said. "I thought this would be the place to report it. Not that I expect it'll do much good."
"It probably won't," Ferdinand said. "But I'll help you talk to these dreadful barbarians, and then we can all ride back up town together."