Having first ascertained that there were no enemy agents secreted under the table or among the potted palms, I unburdened my soul to him concerning Wilbur and the coups that never came off.
He stared at me for a few moments, his eyes twinkling, then he leaned over the table.
"My active brain has evolved a be-autiful plan," said he. "It's yours for another ice."
I bought it.
* * * * * * * *
I found Wilbur sleuthing the crowd from behind a tall tumbler in the Excelsior lounge, and dragging him into the lift, hung it up half-way between here and hereafter, and whispered my great news.
"Where, when?" he cried, blench-blanching.
"In my hotel at midnight," I replied. "I hid in a clothes-basket and heard all. We will frustrate their knavish tricks, thou and I."
Wilbur did not appear to be as keen as I had expected, he hummed and hawed and chatted about my amateurishness and impetuosity; but I was obdurate, and taking him firmly by the arm led him off to dinner.
I hardly let go of his arm at all for the next five hours, judging it safer so.