“What do you know about Miss Gailord?”

“Nothing.”

“You know her?”

“I’ve met her, yes.”

“Where?”

“Oh, several times — at social functions.”

“She moves in your circle?”

“Not exactly. She tries to… wait a minute, I don’t mean it that way.”

“Yes, you do,” Mason said. “That’s exactly what you meant. The remark may have slipped out, but you meant it.”

“All right, then, I did. It’s just what she’s doing.”