I registered for her and gave him three one-dollar bills. He called the bellboy over and handed him a key. I gave the bellboy a dime, raised my hat, and walked out.

I went as far as the car, stood there for a minute, and then came back. The clerk’s lips tightened when he saw me. I said, “I want to ask you some questions about rates by the month.”

“Yes?”

I said, “It isn’t very satisfactory to me, having my secretary live way out in the sticks where it’s a nuisance getting back and forth. She has a sister who’s working here in town, and the two of them have been talking about getting a place in town where they could be together. How about a monthly rate?”

“Just the two girls?” he asked.

“Just the two girls.”

“We have something very attractive — some nice rooms we could give them on a permanent basis.”

“A corner room?”

“Well, no, not a corner room. It’d be an inside court room.”

“Sunlight?”