CHAPTER XII
Sound though Mr. Gordon’s suggestion was, Banneker after the interview did not go home to think it over. He went to a telephone booth and called up the Avon Theater. Was the curtain down? It was, just. Could he speak to Miss Raleigh? The affair was managed.
“Hello, Bettina.”
“Hello, Ban.”
“How nearly dressed are you?”
“Oh—half an hour or so.”
“Go out for a bite, if I come up there?”
The telephone receiver gave a transferred effect of conscientious consideration. “No: I don’t think so. I’m tired. This is my night for sleep.”
To such a basis had the two young people come in the course of the police investigation and afterward, that an agreement had been formulated whereby Banneker was privileged to call up the youthful star at any reasonable hour and for any reasonable project, which she might accept or reject without the burden of excuse.