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followed me inside, and led Cecil into the study. I was curious to know what was going to happen to my now-precarious position, and snuck down the passage. The idea to hide on the other side of the door was nixed when I remembered what Benson had done to Sievers' eavesdropping; I wouldn't make the same mistake. The old walls of that house were thin, so I tiptoed into the living room, wincing at every creak beneath my feet, and stuck my ear against the wall that separated that room from the study. Their voices came through like they were standing on the other side of a paper-thin wall, which they were.
    "That was quite a show, Cecil. Did you mean to scare the girl half to death?" I heard Benson ask his guest.
    "If she scared that easily than she didn't deserve to be your secretary," Cecil laughed. My hands balled into fists; now I saw Cecil's game. He'd been testing me with that gruff attitude. "Why did you pick this one?"
    There was hesitation from Benson. "She was kind to me," he finally explained
    Cecil scoffed. "It's a good thing you don't get out much. You'd find many women would be kind to you if they knew who you were. Did she know who you were and how much money you had before you took her on?"
    "I don't think so, but that hardly matters now. She's been hired."
    "I beg to differ, it matters most especially now that she's been hired," Cecil argued. "She may ingratiate herself with you to acquire your money."
    "Like Constance?" Benson bitterly replied. "She tried very well to ingratiate herself with me, and when she saw I was having none of it she became belligerent."
    "And that's when she quit," Cecil finished.
    "That's when I fired her. If she's saying otherwise then she's lying," Benson shot back.
    Cecil sighed; it was great enough to be a category one hurricane force wind. "She was only with you for a year, John. You're getting worse," Cecil scolded.
    " They're getting worse," Benson countered. "And at least with this new girl I won't be dealing with that agency. Nothing but worthless, greedy women who take me on to get at my money."
    "Perhaps like this girl. Do you know anything about her? What's her name?" Cecil asked him.
    "Didn't she tell you?"
    "She said Calhoun, but didn't give me a first name."
    "Her first name is, well..."
    "You don't know it, do you?"
    "I haven't asked yet," Benson briskly replied.
    Another exasperated sigh from Cecil. "That's quite an achievement considering you've already hired her for a position as your personal secretary. What do you call her, Girl?"
    "That's none of your business, and it never should have been. You were my guardian until I was twenty-one, but no more," Benson replied. "My business is now solely my business."
    "I only mean well for my only nephew," Cecil insisted. I cringed; what an uncle. "And as your nearest living relative I only want you to be happy."
    "Then stop bothering me!" Benson bellowed out.
    I was startled by his outburst and jumped away from the wall. My shoulder knocked against the wallpaper and made a thud sound through the hollow partition. The voices in the other room quieted. "Did you hear something?" Cecil asked Benson.
    I crept as quickly as I could out of the living room, but the hurried footsteps of my boss crossed down the hall and caught me before I could slip to the other side of the house. He grabbed my wrist in a painful grip and twisted me around. Those bright blue eyes were flames of anger that melted my courage. He shook me hard enough to jolt my marbles loose. "What are you doing? Were you listening in on us?" I meekly nodded my head; I was never a good liar. "Why?"
    "I-I just wanted to see what would happen to my job." Cecil came up behind Benson, and I nodded at him. "He said he didn't want me around, so I thought you'd get rid of me." Then my dream of supporting myself through college would end and I'd be forced to live with my mother, or get a dull butter knife from my apartment and commit seppuku; I was leaning toward the butter