"Willie, Willie!" she said sadly. "You aren't letting that bottle blonde bother you? I didn't think you were that kind of boy!"
Westervelt grinned back, at some cost.
"Is there another kind?" he asked. "After, all, Si, she's only been around a few weeks. It's the novelty. I'll get used to her."
"Sure you will," said Simonetta.
She returned to her letters, and Westervelt hunched over his desk to brood. He wondered what Parrish and Beryl were up to in the file room. He could think of no innocent reason to wander in on business of his own. Perhaps, he reflected, he did not really want to; he might overhear something he would regret.
He passed some time without directing a single thought to the problems of the Department. Then the door beyond Simonetta opened and Smith strolled out. He carried a pad as if he, too, had been doodling.
"Well, Willie," he said cheerfully, "what are we going to do about this Harris fellow?"
"All I can think of, Mr. Smith, is to offer to trade them a few people we could do without," said Westervelt.
Smith grinned. He seemed to be willing to make up a little list.
"Some who never would be missed, eh? And let's head the page with people who take messages from thinking fish!"