She was puffing slightly from her exertion.
“That little bastard,” she muttered to herself. “Joining the Navy! God, how I miss him! He’d have handled that without any fuss.”
Chapter V
Elsie Brand was back within thirty minutes. “Get him?” Bertha Cool asked.
Elsie Brand shook her head. A frown of annoyance crossed Bertha Cool’s forehead. “Why not?”
“Because,” Elsie Brand said, “I’m not Donald Lam. I’m not a detective; I’m a stenographer. What’s more, I think he was wise to me all the way.”
“What did he do?”
“Walked down to the corner, stopped in front of the blind man who’s our client, and dropped silver dollars into the cup — five of them.”
“Bowed his head every time a dollar hit the tin cup, and said, ‘Thank you, brother.’ He said it five times, very seriously and with considerable dignity.”
“And then?” Bertha asked.