She cuddled down and planted her lips on my ear while her tongue flicked like a little snake's. "No," she continued, "the time has come, Winfred, when we must face the facts, unpleasant though they may be. I was never meant to be a part-time girl for any man." Her sharp little teeth nipped my neck savagely. "Virginia," I said, "what I had to say--what I mean is--" I never said it. Her mouth was suddenly glued to mine and she melted into my arms. "Damn you!" I told her. "There." The apartment door-bell was buzzing like an accusation. "Tell them to go away," she murmured. "Say we're not at home." I disentangled myself, ran to the door and jiggled the button that released the downstairs catch. "Go and make yourself decent," I told her. "I'll stall them if you aren't too long." I listened as the footsteps slowly mounted the stairs. It was a man's step. Then came a brisk tap on the brass knocker. I opened up. It was A. J. Harcourt of the F.B.I. He seemed rather surprised to see me. "Good morning, Mr. Tompkins," he began. "I thought that--" "Oh, come on in," I urged him. "Mrs. Rutherford will be out in a moment. I--we...." He nodded. "You certainly do get around," he admitted. "Last the Bureau heard you were a patient up in Hartford, and here I find you in--" "In a love-nest," I suggested. "A den of perfumed sin. A high-priced hell-hole. I got here about ten minutes ago. Mrs. Rutherford said that I might be in trouble but she didn't get around to explaining what trouble." He grinned. "When a girl speaks of trouble, she means herself," he orated. "Oh, is that so?" Virginia appeared at the entrance to the bathroom, completely though revealingly clad, and advanced into the room brandishing her sex like an invisible shillelagh. "And what has the F.B.I. to do with me, Mr. Harcourt?" she demanded. Poor Harcourt looked abashed but made a speedy recovery, getting out of the rough in one stroke. "Now that Mr. Tompkins is here, Mrs. Rutherford, mam," he said, "I have nothing to see you about. We heard he had gone to a private asylum in New England and I was told to see you and ask if you knew any of the circumstances." "Oh!" Virginia sat down on the rumpled day-bed. "That sounds rather like a lie, you know." "That's not my fault, mam," Harcourt replied. "My chief gives me my orders and I follow them without being asked for my opinion. If the Bureau wants to check on Mr. Tompkins through his friends--" Virginia beamed and dimpled. "You couldn't do better than come to me," she admitted. "Well, here I am," I told him, "and Mrs. Rutherford needn't feel bothered. What is it now?" "We just wanted to get the rights of your run-in with the Secret Service," he told me. "Our liaison there told the Director that you stood Chief Flynn on his ear and that Flynn threatened to swear out a lunacy warrant against you. How come?"