“A recipe of my own, a variant on the old Prairie Oyster, but without the raw egg, which I consider a needless embellishment, ma’am.  I learned it in the household of a former employer, a New York stockbroker.  Poor man:  he did himself in in the autumn of 1929.”

“Well, it’s too bad you won’t be with us permanently, Davies,” Nelda said.  “Your recipe seems to be just what Geraldine needs.  With a dash of prussic acid added, of course.”

That got the bush-fighting off to a good start.  When Dunmore came in, a few minutes later, the two sisters were stalking one another through the jungle, blow-gunning poison darts back and forth.  The newcomer sat down without a word; throughout the meal, he and Varcek treated one another with silent and hostile suspicion.  Finally Gladys looked at her watch and called a truce to the skirmishing by announcing that it was time to start for church.  Rand left the room with the ladies; in the hall, Gladys brushed against him quickly and gripped his left arm.

“Do be careful, Jeff,” she whispered.

“Don’t worry; I will,” Rand assured her.  Then he turned into the library and went up the spiral to the gunroom, while the three women went down to the garage.

He was standing at the window as the big Packard moved out onto the drive.  Nelda was at the wheel, and Gladys, beside her on the front seat, raised a white-gloved hand in the thumbs-up salute.  Rand gave it back, and watched the car swing around the house.  Then he mopped his face with a wad of Kleenex and went over to the room-temperature thermostat, turning it down to sixty.

Sitting down at the desk, he dialed Humphrey Goode’s number on the private outside line.  A maid answered; a moment later he was talking to the Fleming lawyer.

“Rand, here,” he identified himself.  “Mr. Goode, I’ve been thinking over our conversation of last evening.  There is a great deal to be said for the position you’re taking in the matter.  As you reminded me, I’m a small, if purely speculative, stockholder in Premix, myself, and even if I weren’t, I should hate to be responsible for undeserved losses by innocent investors.”

“Yes?” Goode’s voice fairly shook.  “Then you’re going to drop the investigation?”

“No, Mr. Goode; I can’t do that.  But I believe a formula could be evolved which would keep the Premix Company and its affairs out of it.  In fact, I think that the whole question of the death of Lane Fleming might possibly be kept in the background.  Would that satisfy you?  It would require some very careful manipulation on my part, and your cooperation.”

“But....  See here, if you’re investigating the death of Mr. Fleming, how can that be kept in the background?” Goode wanted to know.