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them. Her singing voice is pleasing but it doesn't have much range. Her figure is her best bet."
    "Pushing herself forward?" Mason asked.
    "Oscillating is the word," Della Street said. "Of course, a woman with a figure like that, who is working in a place of that type is pretty apt to have been around, and… well, it would be interesting to know just what there is in her background, how she happened to be making her living that way."
    "You mean she's probably done about everything?" Mason asked.
    "Except teach Sunday school," Della Street said dryly.
    "And you're warning me," Mason said, "not to become so fascinated by a pair of beautiful legs that I lose my perspective."
    "Not only legs," Della Street said. "I have a feeling that she deliberately puts herself on exhibition in order to get what she wants."
    "But this time," Mason said, "she will be conventionally garbed."
    "She may be conventionally garbed," Della Street said, "but I'm willing to bet she's wearing something that's cut rather low in front and that, during the course of the conversation, she finds occasion to bend over your desk for some reason or other."
    "It's a thought," Mason said. "Cough when she does it, will you?"
    "Why?"
    "So I can keep my perspective," Mason said, grinning. "Let's get her in, Della, and then we can get back to the routine of the urgent mail."
    Della Street nodded, walked out to the outer office and a moment later came back with Ellen Robb.
    Ellen Robb was wearing a skirt which was tight around the hips, with a band of pleats around the bottom which flared out as she swung around, displaying her knees. Her silk blouse revealed shapely curves. She wore a heavy pin at the closing of the low V-cut neckline.
    "Oh, Mr. Mason," she said impulsively, "I feel like a heel coming in and taking up your time this way, but I desperately need your advice."
    "About a settlement with George?" Mason asked.
    She made a little gesture with her shoulders. "George is a lamb," she said. "He was as nice as I've ever seen him. He thanked me, Mr. Mason. He positively thanked me."
    "For what?" Mason asked, indicating a chair.
    Ellen Robb sat down and almost immediately crossed her knees. "Thanked me," she said, "for showing him what a heel he was. He told me that he was too accustomed to having his own way, that he was ruthless with other people and that it was a trait he was trying to overcome. He begged me not to leave him but to stay on, and he raised my wages twenty-five dollars."
    "A week?" Mason asked.
    "A week," she said.
    "And you agreed to stay?"
    "For the time being."
    "So you're all straightened up with George?"
    She nodded.
    "Then what did you want to see me about?"
    "The Ellis situation."
    "What about it?"
    "I'm afraid you started something with Mrs. Ellis."
    "That was the general objective I had in mind," Mason said.
    "Well, it goes a lot deeper than just a legal point, Mr. Mason. There's friction between Mr. Ellis and his wife. He thinks it would make him look like a piker for her to try and get back the money that he lost."
    Mason said somewhat impatiently, "I tried to help you, Miss Robb, because I felt you had been wronged, but I can't adopt the troubles of the whole neighborhood."
    Ellen Robb inched forward in the chair until she was sitting on the edge. She leaned forward to put her hands on the arm of Mason's chair. "Please, Mr. Mason," she said, "I didn't mean it that way."
    Della Street coughed.
    Mason looked at Ellen Robb, then glanced at Della Street. "Go ahead, Miss Robb," he said.
    She said, "I'm so anxious that you understand, Mr. Mason, that I m just coming to you because.. well, because you do understand."
    She sighed and straightened up once more in the chair, glanced down at her knees, pulled the hem of the dress lightly with her thumb and forefinger and said, "Helly has gone overboard."
    "Helly?" Mason asked.
    "Helman Ellis, the husband."
    "Oh, yes. And what's he done?"
    She said, "Look, Mr. Mason, I'm under no illusions about