'Michael Ayers.'
'Yes!' He made it emphatic. I thought, good for him, with two weeks' wages up.
'Ferdinand Bowen.'
'No.'
'Edwin Robert Byron.'
'Yes.' That evened it up.
I 'Nicholas Cabot.'
'No.'
'Fillmore Collard.'
'Yes.' Wowie. Nine thousand berries. I paused because I had to look at him.
'Alexander Drummond.'
'No.' Sure, the damn canary.
'Leopold Elkus.'
'Yes!' And it was even again, four and four.
'Augustus Farrell.'
'Yes.'
'Theodore Gaines.'
'No.'
'I. M. Irving.'
'No.'
'Arthur Kommers.' .'No.' Three out-of-town babies, three noes in a row, and I hoped Wolfe was proud of his long-distance phoning.
'Sidney Lang.'
'Yes.'
'Archibald Mollison.'
'Yes.'
It was even again, seven and seven, and just one more to go, but I knew what it would be before I called it. It was George Pratt, the Tammany bird who had tried to get Inspector Cramer worried about his four grand. I said it:
'George R. Pratt.'
'No.'
I counted them over to make sure, and turned to Wolfe: 'Seven yeses and eight noes.'
He didn't look at me. They all began talking. Wolfe had rung for another bottle of beer, and now he opened it, poured a glass, watched the foam go down in front ^ of him, but he didn't look at it. He drank some more beer, and wiped his lips with his usual care. Then he leaned back and shut his eyes. They were all talking, and two or three of them directed questions or remarks at him, but he kept his eyes closed and paid no attention. Leopold Elkus walked to the desk and stood and looked at him a minute, and then went back again. They were getting louder, and the arguments were warming up.
Finally Wolfe came to. He opened his eyes, and saw that a fresh bottle of beer had arrived, which I had attended to, and opened it and drank some. Then he picked up a paperweight and rapped on the desk.
They looked around, but went on talking.
He rapped again, and they began to quiet down.
He spoke. 'Gentlemen. I must again ask your indulgence -'
But Cabot was feeling his oats. He broke in, snappy: 'We have voted.
According to the memorandum, that settles it.'
Wolfe got snappy too. 'It settles that vote, sir. It does not settle the destiny of the human race. If you wish to leave us, of course you may, but we would still have a quorum without you. – Good. I have two appeals to make. First, to those eight who voted no. Please heed me. I appeal to each and all of you – you understand, to each one of you – to change your vote to yes. I have a specific reason to hope that one of you will decide to change. Well, gentlemen? I shall give you one minute.'
They shook their heads. One or two spoke, but mostly they were silent, gazing at Wolfe. There had been a new tone in his voice. He had taken out his watch and kept his eyes on it. At the end of the minute he returned it to his pocket and looked up.
He sighed. 'Then I must proceed to my second appeal. This time, Mr. Bowen, it is to you alone. I ask you to vote yes. You of course know why. Will you vote yes?'
They all looked at the stockbroker.
Including me. He was still taking it, but not so good. He damn near stuttered, shooting it back at
