tell me this--how did you ever come to figure out such a marvelous stroke of genius all by yourself?" "Maria," answered Mr. Golightly, and, as he answered, his chest expanded perceptibly and brushed against the edge of his desk, "if you'd been in the pressed-brick game as long as I have, you'd know there are several ways of killing a cat besides choking it to death with butter." * * * * * * Transcriber's note: Extensive research has revealed that the copyright on this work was not renewed, and therefore, it has entered into the public domain. Small capitals were changed to all capitals. The following corrections have been made, on page 17 "plied" changed to "piled" (She piled his plate abundantly) 56 "femine" changed to "feminine" (details of feminine lingerie) 68/9 "a a" changed to "a" (it blocked a gap through which) 101 "or" changed to "of" (behind her back, of course) 206 "It" changed to "If" (If it hadn't been for him). Otherwise the original was preserved, including unusual or archaic words and expressions and unusual and inconsistent spelling and hyphenation.