"So?" he said.
"Hedgerly produced a nine-horse parlay at Bay Meadows. Mr. Graydon ... Tony, that is ... put down a ten dollar bill on it in my name. I'm now possessed of about sixty-three thousand dollars."
Ignoring the statement, Peter squinted at Joan and asked: "It's 'Tony, that is' now?"
Graydon scowled faintly. "Let's all be stuffy," he said.
"Sorry, Graydon," said Peter. Graydon nodded. He thought he understood. He tried to, anyway. As irking as the situation was to him—having this character Hedgerly blithely hurling his fiancee at Peter's head and callously telling everybody else that they might as well give up trying to change Fate—he believed that Peter and Marie both were more than irked at being hurled together. Peter was not a boor, nor even stuffy.
Joan filled the silence. "That isn't all," she said. "Last night Hedgerly wrote this in an envelope before he gave Tony the horses to pick. It says: 'Graydon will place ten dollars on the parlay in Joan Willson's name and she will win sixty-three thousand, four hundred seven dollars and sixty cents.' That's what happened, Peter."
"Um," said Peter.
"Trapped," said Marie.
"Gypped," growled Graydon.
"Bought," muttered Joan.