“Oh, you call her new?” Fred comprehended my peculiar point of view. “He’s had her going on three months now.”

“There’s trouble between them?” I persisted.

“Of course,” said Fred, “being twenty-two, she’s a little old for him, but they do bunny-dip beautifully together.”

“Who was she?” I kept after Fred.

“Who? Shirley? Why, you just said her name; Shirley Fendon she was.”

“Wasn’t that just her cabaret name?” I inquired.

“Well,” said Fred cautiously, “why go back of that? We were willing not to.”

“You’ve met any of her friends?”

Fred shook his head. “That, at least, has been spared us.”