uisite varieties of blooming idiots.

"My deepest apologies, my dear," Sir Kenneth Malone said gallantly, even
managing a small display bow for the occasion. "May I be of any
assistance?"

The girl smiled up at him as she came to her feet. The smile was radiant
and beautiful and almost loving. Malone felt as if he couldn't stand it.
Tingles of the most wonderful kind ran through him, reached his toes and
then ran back the other way, meeting a whole new set going forward.

"You're very nice," the girl said, and the tingles became positive waves
of sensation. "Actually, it was all my fault. Please don't apologize,
Mr.--" She paused, expectantly.

"Me?" Malone said, his gallantry deserting him for the second. But it
returned full force before he expected it. "I'm Malone," he said.
"Kenneth Joseph Malone." He had always liked the middle name he had
inherited from his father, but he never had much opportunity to use it.
He made the most of it now, rolling it out with all sorts of subsidiary
flourishes. As a matter of fact, he barely restrained himself from
putting a "Sir" before his name.

The girl's brown eyes widened just a trifle. Malone felt as if he could
have fallen into them and drowned. "Oh, my," she said. "You must be a
detective." And then, like the merest afterthought: "My name's Dorothy."

_Dorothy._ It was a beautiful name. It made Malone feel all choked up,
inside. He blinked at the girl and tried to look manly and wonderful. It
was an effort, but he nearly carried it off.

* * * * *

After a second or two he realized that she had asked him a question. He
didn't want to disillusion her in any way, and, after all, an FBI agent
was a kind of detective, but he thought it was only fair that she should
know the whole truth about him right from the start.

"Not exactly a detective," he said.

"Not exactly?" she said, looking puzzled. She looked positively glorious
when puzzled, Malone decided at once.

"That is," he said carefully, "I do detect, but not for the city of New
York."

"Oh," she said. "A private eye. Is that right?"

"Well," Malone said, "no."

She looked even more puzzled. Malone hastened to explain before he got
to the point where conversation was impossible.

"Federal Bureau of Investigation," he said. After a second he thought
of a clarification and added: "FBI."

"Oh," the girl said. "_Oh._"

"But you can call me Ken," Malone said.

"All right--Ke