night before. I gave my
instructions. Old man Henry Schnable checked over the notes he had
made.

"Now that's a funny thing," he said.

"You think I'm making a mistake?"

"Oh, no. You never have yet, so I don't suppose you are now. The funny
thing is that your moves here are almost exactly the same as those
another very unusual customer of mine gave me over the phone not an
hour ago."

"Oh?" There was nothing very interesting about that. But, oddly enough,
I was very interested.

"Yes. Miss Julia Reede. Only a child really, 21, but a brilliant girl.
Possibly a genius. She comes from some little town up in the mountains.
She has been in town here for just the past six months and her
investments--well! Now I come to think about it, I believe they have
very closely paralleled yours all along the line. Fabulously
successful. You advising her?"

"Never heard of the girl."

"Well, you really should meet her, Mr. Barth. You two have so much in
common, and such lovely investments. Why don't you wait around? Miss
Reede is coming in to sign some papers this afternoon. You two should
know each other."

He was right. We _should_ know each other. I could feel it.

"Well, Henry," I said, "perhaps I will wait. I've got nothing else to
do this afternoon."

That was a lie. I had plenty of things to do, including a date with the
captain of a visiting women's track team from Finland. Strangely, my
people and I were in full agreement on standing up the chesty Finn, let
the javelins fall where they may.

Henry was surprised too. "You are going to wait for her? Uh. Well now,
Mr. Barth, your reputation--ah--that is, she's only a child, you know,
from the country."

The buzzer on his desk sounded. His secretary spoke up on the intercom.
"Miss Reede is here."

Miss Reede came right on in the door without waiting for a further
invitation.

We stood there gaping at each other. She was small, about 5'2" maybe,
with short, black, curly hair, surface-cool green eyes with fire
underneath, fresh, freckled nose, slim figure. Boyish? No. Not boyish.

I stared, taking in every little detail. Every little detail was
perfect and--well, I can't begin to describe it. That was for me. I
could feel it all through me, she was what I had been waiting for,
dreaming of.

I made a quick call on the inside switchboard, determined to fight to
override the veto I was sure was coming. I called.

No answer.

For the first time, I got no regu