“ ‘Professor Cannon,’ ” she read, “ ‘arrived at his hotel at nine o’clock. He was checked into room 515 and went immediately up. At 9:27 he came down and went into the cocktail lounge. He sat at the bar for approximately twenty minutes, during which time he had one dry Martini and engaged in conversation with a lady who sat at his left. This was clearly a chance encounter. He has never been observed in the lady’s company before. The conversation was clearly casual.
“ ‘At 9:50 Miss Cornelia York, reference all prior reports, came into the lounge. She had earlier checked into room 607, same hotel, at 8:17. Professor Cannon moved with her to a table, where they had three Martinis apiece and engaged in conversation for more than an hour. Operator was not in position to overhear the conversation.
“‘At 11:08 Miss York left the lounge and took the elevator to the sixth floor. Operator walked to the sixth floor and took a position from which the door to Miss York’s room could be observed. At 11:23 Professor Cannon approached the door and knocked. He was immediately admitted to the room.
“‘Operator remained in position until 2:00 A.M., in accordance with instructions pertaining to this and prior operations. At that time, Professor Cannon had not yet left the room. Movements of principals were basically identical with movements reported in all prior operations. Implications are clear. Please inform if you want further observations or actions in this case.’ ”
She refolded the paper and returned it to the envelope, leaning forward to place the envelope on the silver tray beside her cup. Then she sank back again in her chair to cross her knees and observe Brad with a quiet, expectant smile, as if she were awaiting his comments on something she considered very amusing, if not very important.
He wasn’t deceived or reassured by this appearance of restraint, however. He recognized its deadliness. Rising suddenly, he walked to the window and looked out and came back. He was not aware of this movement, and never remembered afterward having made it.
“You had me followed,” he said bitterly. “You had me followed by a cheap private detective.”
“Not so cheap, darling,” she countered, her voice dry and mocking. “Quite expensive, as a matter of fact. And, as you can see, exceedingly competent. He really writes quite a literate and lucid report, don’t you think? One would hardly expect it of a detective, would one?”
“I would hardly have expected it of you. To resort to such sordid tactics!” Brad’s face was ridged and suddenly ominous and unpleasant.
“Sordid? Darling, in the face of what you are and what you’ve been doing, do you actually have the temerity to accuse me of being sordid? Well, perhaps I am. Perhaps you would be astonished to know what I can be and what I can resort to when it becomes necessary. You had better think about it.”
“Would it do any good to tell you that this business with Cornelia is finished, and that I wish to God it had never begun?” he ventured.
“Oh, it’s finished, all right. I don’t need your assurance for that. At least it had better be, if you know what’s good for you. To tell the truth, I’m not greatly disturbed by your silly affair. Chances are that I would have ignored it if you hadn’t become so stupidly blatant about it.
“You see, darling, I know perfectly well what kind of man you are, and I accept you as that and nothing more. I would leave you free to make as big a fool of yourself as you pleased if it were not for the incidental danger of your making a fool of me, too.”
“I see. Thank you very much. I suppose, then, that you wish to divorce me on innocuous grounds. Mental cruelty or some such. Very well. I’ll not contest it.”
“Oh, no. If I were going to divorce you, it would surely be on grounds of adultery, and I would do my best in any other way I could to ruin you. Do you see how vindictive I can be when I feel inclined? However, don’t worry about it. I don’t wish to divorce you on any grounds whatever. If you have any such notion, you’re greatly mistaken.
“The business with Cornelia is finished. I’ll accept your word for that, and if it isn’t, I’ll soon find out about it. Other than that, darling, it isn’t so much what I will do as what you will do, and I will tell you what it is. When Dr. Norton retires, which will be soon, you will become head of your department at the college. That’s established. Later, in a reasonable time, you will become president. That’s also established.
“In the meanwhile, you will revert to the dull business of being my husband, and you will give it your full attention. For my part, inadequate as I may be, I promise to try to satisfy your reasonable needs to the best of my ability. These are the things that you will do, as I have planned. If you wish to consider the alternative to them, I shall be glad to tell you exactly what it is. I don’t think you do, however. It’s not pleasant.”
All the while Madelaine spoke her voice remained cool, precise and reasonable. Her very blandness and composure were maddening.
“Is that all you have to say?” he asked.
“Every word. I hope that I have made myself perfectly clear.”
“Perfectly.”
“Good. We understand each other, then, and can forget this unfortunate episode.” She stood up, smoothing her skirt over her hips. “I believe I’ll just leave the tea things here. Wanda can remove them later. I’m going upstairs now and lie down a while before the party. Don’t be late in getting ready. And don’t neglect to dress warmly enough. You had better wear a sweater under your jacket.”
She went out, and Brad sat down, staring into the fire, to consider the conditions of his probation. They were, however, too depressing to consider at length, and so, after a few minutes, he began to think again of Maggie McCall.
9
The party, which Brad had expected to be dull, was worse. But this may have been due largely to the fact that he was not in a mood for any party at all, let alone one of old Norton’s deadly variety.
Indeed, all the elements were pretty much the same as they had been on other occasions, including the guests. There was a fire in the huge barbecue pit, of which Norton was inordinately proud, and Norton himself in an apron and high chef’s hat was the hearty host presiding over a standing rib roast.
There was a table spread with other food, from which one was supposed to help himself, buffet fashion, and there was a second, smaller table supporting a variety of bottles from which one was also supposed to help himself. The result of this was about thirty people broken up into small groups, all balancing plates and glasses and cups in precarious positions, sitting and standing and leaning, and conducting conversations which were severely handicapped by the conditions imposed, for it is difficult, naturally, to be animated or impressive when your mouth is full half the time and you do not have proper use of your hands.
There had been an early trying moment directly after Brad and Madelaine had arrived. Cornelia, already there, had greeted Madelaine with effusive gayety that had the effect, under the circumstances, of deliberate needling. But of course Cornelia didn’t know the circumstances that had been established by the private detective’s report, and so she really could not be suspected of brazenly flaunting her status upon the other woman, which was what she seemed to Brad to be doing.
Anyhow, Madelaine had met the situation admirably with cool and courteous scorn that Cornelia had failed utterly to recognize as anything other than rather snobbish good manners. Ever since his survival of that first meeting, Brad had been carefully avoiding them both.
This maneuver was not without its problems, especially in the case of Cornelia, and he wished to God that he had not been forced to submit to the false and exhausting reconciliation that now made it necessary to start all over again with the dreary business of getting rid of her.