He hadn’t mentioned the cache before, except to grunt impolite syllables concerning its discovery by the G-men.
Duff felt himself stiffen internally. But he said, “Man has a right—”
“Oh, sure. Person like me gets crazy ideas, though. I sure did hate it when the country went off the gold standard. Figured I’d stay on a standard of some sort with my savings.
Seems foolish now. I sold that metal and put the money in the bank.” As he spoke, he took a small deposit book from a hip pocket. “All I got to show now is this here ink balance. Hope we don’t get worse inflation.”
From then on, Harry put in an hour or so at gardening every morning. Duff was grateful.
The days that were humdrum for him were filled with excitements for Eleanor Yates.
Not the least of these was associated with her queenship and consisted of parade plans, the selection of maids of honor, newspaper interviews and appearances at lunches and other public affairs. Another source of excitement was the fond courtship paid to her by the amusing, cheerful Scotty Smythe in his salmon-pink convertible. He seemed to regard her tentative replies to his now-frequent proposals as proof of an arbitrary state of mind which would change in the long run. And he appeared to be unimpressed by the large numbers of other young males in the university and in the city who pursued her.
Some further part of her complicated life was made anxious, if not precisely exciting, by a decision to take into her own hands the matter of Duff’s refusal to make any further immediate contact with the FBI. She had thought over the situation and decided it was her duty to do something, whether Duff felt that way or not. So she phoned the bureau, asked for Mr. Higgins and made an appointment.
The G-man welcomed the girl in his office one evening after dinner and before she was due at work. He told her that the newspaper photographs — even the colored ones — didn’t do her justice. He asked her what was on her mind and she made the suggestion that had so startled Duff, “Did it ever occur to you that if nobody has stolen any of our bombs, somebody could be bringing parts into the country?”
She could see instantly that the idea had not occurred to the G-man. And he, realizing she could discern his surprise, made no effort to camouflage it. “No. Not me, anyhow.