She shrugged and turned around, her hands in the air. Over her shoulder, she said: "You're taking this all wrong, Sam. I came here to make a deal with you." "Sure you did." But her knowing my name was a blow, too. I mean what was the use of all that sneaking around if people in New York were going to know we were here? I walked up close behind her and patted what there was to pat. There didn't seem to be a gun. "You tickle," she complained. I took her pocketbook away from her and went through it. No gun. A lot of money--an _awful_ lot of money. I mean there must have been two or three hundred thousand dollars. There was nothing with a name on it in the pocketbook. She said: "Can I put my hands down, Sam?" "In a minute." I thought for a second and then decided to do it--you know, I just couldn't afford to take chances. I cleared my throat and ordered: "Take off your clothes." Her head jerked around and she stared at me. "_What?_" "Take them off. You heard me." "Now wait a minute--" she began dangerously. I said: "Do what I tell you, hear? How do I know you haven't got a knife tucked away?" She clenched her teeth. "Why, you dirty little man! What do you think--" Then she shrugged. She looked at me with contempt and said: "All right. What's the difference?" Well, there was a considerable difference. She began to unzip and unbutton and wriggle, and pretty soon she was standing there in her underwear, looking at me as though I were a two-headed worm. It was interesting, but kind of embarrassing. I could see Arthur's eye-stalk waving excitedly out of the opened suitcase. I picked up her skirt and blouse and shook them. I could feel myself blushing, and there didn't seem to be anything in them. I growled: "Okay, I guess that's enough. You can put your clothes back on now." "Gee, thanks," she said. She looked at me thoughtfully and then shook her head as if she'd never seen anything like me before and never hoped to again. Without another word, she began to get back into her clothes. I had to admire her poise. I mean she was perfectly calm about the whole thing. You'd have thought she was used to taking her clothes off in front of strange men. Well, for that matter, maybe she was; but it wasn't any of my business. * * * * * Arthur was clacking distractedly, but I didn't pay any attention to him. I demanded: "All right, now who are you and what do you want?" She pulled up a stocking and said: "You couldn't have asked me that in the first place, could you? I'm Vern Eng--" "_Cut it out!_" She stared at me. "I was only going to say I'm Vern Engdahl's partner. We've got a little business deal cooking and I wanted to talk to you about this proposition." Arthur squawked: WHATS ENGDAHL UP TO NOW Q Q SAM IM WARNING YOU I DONT LIKE THE LOOK OF THIS THIS WOMAN AND ENGDAHL ARE PROBABLY DOUBLECROSSING US I said: "All right, Arthur, relax. I'm taking care of things. Now start over, you. What's your name?"