Well, the little guy stopped talkin', then, and takes another drink and I find I been sittin' on the edge of my chair, like I was stymied by a paralaray.
"B-but—you said that she disappeared from here," I says like a guy in a trance.
"Oh yes indeed," he smiles at me. "I was too wrapped up in her by then to let her off so easily."
"Y'mean—you followed her up?"
"I felt sure that if I could just see her again, and explain the value of her peculiar, indeed amazing talent, to science—well, at any rate I knew where to go. I had never in all my life frequented one of those burlesque houses.
"After the performance I endeavored to see her backstage. That was when I had my first brush with Mr. Luigi."
"Tough character, ain't he?"
"Extremely so. He warned me not to bother her, and when I tried to explain, he threatened me.
"And then one evening," the little guy says, settling back in his chair with a hooker of Saturnian Sling, and that far-away look in his eyes again, "just when I least expected it, my robot butler announced her.