'Well,' Dianne said, 'it's confidential in a way-that is, I'm not supposed to talk about it. But I know that Mrs. Kirby can be just as close-lipped as anyone. That's one thing about her, she never does gossip-and for the rest of it, I'm talking to an attorney and his secretary.'
'Go ahead,' Della Street invited.
'Well,' Dianne said, 'the truth of the matter is I'm going to model a new style.'
'A new style?' Della Street asked, as Dianne broke off to laugh self-consciously.
'It sounds absolutely absurd,' she said, 'but I'm getting paid to put on weight and… well, that's all there is to it.'
'Now, wait a minute,' Della Street said. 'Let's see if I get this straight. You're being paid money to put on more weight?'
'Twelve pounds from the time I started.'
'Within a time limit?'
'Yes.'
'And someone is paying you for it?'
'Yes. Some designers. The- Oh, I know it sounds silly and… I don't know how I got started on this. It- Well, anyway, some style designers feel that there has been too great a tendency to take off weight, that everyone is fighting weight and it isn't natural and that people would be a lot happier and feel a lot better if they didn't keep so diet conscious, if they were free to eat what they wanted.
'Of course there are people who are simply fat, and my sponsors don't want that. They have been looking for some time for a young woman who is-well, as they expressed it, firmly fleshed, who could put on enough weight to wear certain styles they wanted to bring out. They're going to photograph me and put me on television. Well, that's it. I'm to be a new sort of model, start a trend.
'You know how it is in the fashion shows. Some slender model who concentrates on being willowy and svelte comes out modeling a dress. But the women who are sitting there looking at that dress are nearly all of them twenty to thirty pounds heavier than the model.
'My sponsors have had me examined by a physician and they feel that I can keep my waist measurement and my carriage and still put on twelve to fifteen pounds and-well, they're going to try and make curves stylish… Oh, why did I get started on this?'
Dianne suddenly covered her scarlet face with her hands and said, 'I feel so horribly self-conscious.'
'Not at all,' Mason said, 'you interest me a lot. I think there's a good deal to this. You mentioned your sponsors, some style company?'
'Frankly,' she said, 'I don't know who the sponsors are. I'm dealing through an agency… and I'm under contract not to discuss what I'm doing with anyone.'
'I see,' Mason said thoughtfully.
'Are you putting weight on?' Della Street asked.
'Heavens, yes! I've had to count calories for the last five years and now I'm just reveling in having everything I want. Now I've built up my appetite to a point where I just can't resist food. I'm going to make the weight all right but the hard part is whether I can shut off the supply of food when I've made the weight. I'm afraid I'm going to overshoot the mark.'
Mason said, 'You certainly have the figure to make women curve-conscious and sell clothes.'
'Well, of course,' she said, 'that's what's at the back of it. They want to sell clothes. They feel that the average woman is simply sick and tired of starving herself and that I can make-that is, that they can make a new trend in styles if they can find the right model.'
'I think they've found her,' Mason said. And raising his coffee cup, smiled at the highly embarrassed Dianne Alder and said, 'Here's to success!'
Fifteen minutes later, however, when Mason was able to get Della Street to one side, he said, 'Della, there's something terribly fishy about this whole business with Dianne Alder. She says she has a contract. Apparently it's a written contract. She seems to be a very nice girl. I would dislike very much to see her victimized. I'm going to make my excuses and leave. See if you can get a heart-to-heart, woman-to-woman talk with her and find Out more about that contract. You've been around law offices long enough to be able to spot the joker if you can get a look at it.'
'If she's getting money for putting on weight,' Della Street said wistfully, 'she's living an ideal existence.'
'Until someone jerks the rug out from under her,' Mason said, 'and leaves her with all those curves.'
Della Street smiled. 'I know how easy and rapid it is to put it on and how very slow and painful the process is of taking it off-but what in the world could anybody want with her- Well, you know, I mean why would anyone make a contract of that sort?'
Mason said, 'Since she's a friend of your Aunt Mae, it might be a good plan to find out.'
CHAPTER THREE
It was nine o'clock the next morning when Mason's phone rang.
'Are you decent?' Della Street asked.
'Fully clothed and in my right mind,' Mason said. 'Where are you?'
'I'm down in the lobby.'
'What gives?'
'The contract.'
'What contract? Oh, you mean with Dianne Alder?'
'Yes.'
'You know what it's all about?'
'I've done better than that. I have her copy with me.'
'Good,' Mason said. 'Come on up. I'll meet you at the elevator.'
Mason met Della and asked, 'Have you had breakfast?'
'No. You?'
Mason shook his head.
'I'm famished,' she said.
'Come on in,' Mason told her, 'and we'll have some sent up to the suite and eat it out on the balcony overlooking the ocean.'
The lawyer called room service and placed an order for a ham steak, two orders of fried eggs, a big pot of coffee and toast.
Della Street, walking over to the full-length mirror, surveyed herself critically. 'I'm afraid,' she said, 'I'm being inspired by the example of Dianne Alder and am about to go overboard.'
'That breakfast won't be fattening,' Mason said.
'Hush,' she told him. 'I've been at the point where I've even been counting the calories in a glass of drinking water. And now, inspired by the example of Dianne getting paid for putting on weight, I feel that you should supplement that order with sweet rolls and hashbrown potatoes.'
'Shall I?' Mason asked, reaching for the phone.
'Heavens, no!' she exclaimed. 'Here, read this contract and prepare to lose a secretary. Why didn't someone tell me about this sooner?'
'Inspired?' Mason asked.
'To quote a famous phrase,' Della Street said, 'it's nice work if you can get it. I'm thinking of getting it. Eat all you want and get paid for it. Have a guaranteed income. Be free from worries so you can put on weight in the right places.'
'What,' Mason asked, 'are the right places?'
'The places that meet the masculine eye,' she said. Mason settled in his chair, glanced through the contract, frowned, started reading it more carefully.
By the time the room service waiter arrived with the table and the breakfast order, Mason had completed a study of the contract.
