the way a girl would
look who knew where she was going and why. The car picked up speed and
swung north.

"I wonder," Joy murmured, "how Uncle Peter happened to select Hands
McCaffery's girl friend as his assistant."

"She was a burlycue queen last time I heard of her," Bag Ears said.
"Still is, I guess."

"That could explain it," I told Joy. "You see, Uncle Peter has--ah,
facets to his personality. A tendency to admire women. Ah--"

"Women--period; isn't that what you mean?"

"Well, it would be perfectly logical for Uncle Peter to select an
assistant from the stage of a burlesque theater."

"Enough of this," Joy snapped. "We're wasting time. Go get--oh, never
mind! Wait here."

Joy was off in the direction of the garage and in no time at all she was
back in my Cadillac convertible. As she sailed by I managed to hook a
finger around the door handle and get a foot inside.

This was no mean feat, as I was also occupied in hauling Bag Ears along
by the collar. I managed to deposit him in the seat beside Joy and
squeeze in beside him.

"A burlycue queen, eh?" Joy was muttering. "Well, she's not so much! If
she couldn't get her clothes off she'd starve to death."

"Darling," I said, "I don't think this is the sort of thing you should
be doing. It's far too dangerous for a girl."

"Or anybody else," Bag Ears moaned. There was a bleak look on his face.
"I don't like playing around with a guy like Hands McCaffery or friends
of a guy like him. It's a good way to collect your insurance."

"She's heading for Higgins Drive," Joy observed.

Which was entirely true. The roadster had made a turn on two wheels and
was going west.

"But our honeymoon," I said, plaintively.

"Yeah," Bag Ears repeated, "what about our--your honeymoon?"

Joy's eyes were sparkling. She turned them on me. The car lurched. She
returned her eyes to the road. "Yes, darling. Our honeymoon! Isn't it
wonderful?"

"But this isn't it! This isn't what people do on their honeymoons."

"Oh, you mean--but don't worry about that, darling. We'll have plenty of
time for--"

"Lemme out o' here," Bag Ears moaned. "I got a date to take Red Nose
Tessie to the movies."

Joy apparently did not hear him. "I wish we had all the parts to this
puzzle. It looks as though somebody put somebody on the spot for a
rubout. But it would seem that somebody else got the same idea but
didn't know that somebody else was going to achieve the same result in a
more spe