I waved my hand in an airy gesture. “There’s no limit. He told me whenever I needed a few thousand to call on him.”
She said, “I’m making the business arrangements for this agency.”
“Go ahead and make them, only see that my style isn’t cramped.”
She leaned over and toward me, getting as close to her desk as her figure would permit. “Donald,” she said, “you take in too damn much territory. I’m running this business.”
“No question about that.”
“Well, when I—”
There were hurried steps across the office. I could hear the bleat of the new substitute secretary as she tried to stem the human avalanche which dashed across the office and wrestled with the doorknob. The door jerked open, and Henry Ashbury came puffing in. “There you are,” he said to me. “What were you trying to do, give me heart failure?”
“Simply telling you the truth,” I said.
“Well, you and I are going to talk things over. Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
Bertha Cool said with dignity, “In the future, Mr. Ashbury, you’ll get reports from me. Donald is going to submit regular typewritten reports. I’ll get the information and pass it on to you. This agency has been getting too damned irregular.”