“I like this place,� he said with naïveté. “I was worried all the time that you would go clear down and
out. And here you’re living like a princess of the blood. How do you do it?�
Saidee Isaacs pushed back the chair and rose. She glanced down at Fay with an intent expression. Her long, dark lashes gave a silken look to her eyes.
“I’ll get the diagram,� she offered, moving toward the door which led to the front of the house. “Don’t ask so many questions! Take what you get!�
“One fine little girl,� he thought as he watched her vanishing form. “But,� he added, munching on the cake with his chin lowered, “she’s dangerous, and I know it. Wonder what she did to earn all this?�
Saidee reappeared, closed the door and laid an envelope upon the sideboard. She sat down after pouring out more tea. She tapped the envelope with her fingers, hastily tore across one end and dumped out a folded piece of white paper and an object done up in thin yellow tissue.
“This is the silver greyhound,� she said, “which only King’s Couriers are supposed to wear. You prowled this house tonight and opened my wall safe. You could do that blindfolded. I paid five pounds for it, and there’s only three hundred possible combinations.�
Fay showed professional concern as he took the silver greyhound from the girl’s fingers and held it out appraisingly.
He pinned it to the right lapel of his tweed coat and leaned back. “Now the map,� he said. “The little diagram the gay-cat got in Holland.�
“I told you to be careful with the slang, Chester. ‘Gay-cat’ is very bad form. ‘Courier’ would be better.�