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Blount made a grab for his arm and missed. The nephew took a step and stopped. I could have ducked and jabbed him in the kidney, but he was so slow it was simpler to side-step and get his wrist as it came and give it a good twist.
    It hurt, but the damn fool started his left, and I jerked him around and as he went down to his knees I sent my eyes to Farrow, who had taken another step.
    “I wouldn’t,” I said. “I’m probably in better condition and I’ve had more practice.” I looked at Kalmus, who was scrambling up. “If you must hit somebody,
    hit Miss Blount. I was merely telling you what she thinks. That’s why she came to Nero Wolfe, and that’s why she won’t let go.” I turned to her. “I was saying,
    I have a suggestion. It’s not going to be very pleasant for you here. If you’d like to spend the night with some friend, and if you want to pack a bag, I’ll be glad to take you. I’ll wait downstairs. Of course if you prefer to stay here and take it -“
    “No.” She moved. “I’ll pack a bag.” She headed for the arch, and I followed.
    From behind, Mrs. Blount said something, but we kept going. In the foyer she said, “I won’t be long. You’ll wait?’ I said I would, took my hat and coat, let myself out, and pushed the elevator button.
    I put it at fifty-fifty, an even chance that either her mother or Kalmus, or both, would talk her out of leaving, and down in the lobby I considered alternatives. My watch said 10:41. I would give her half an hour, and then I would go back up, or I would go to a phone booth on Madison Avenue and ring her,
    or I would go home, report to Wolfe, and let him use his intelligence guided by experience. But she saved me the trouble of deciding. I had just looked at my watch and seen 10:53 when the elevator door closed, and in a couple of minutes it opened again, and there she was, in the pallid mink, with a matching turban,
    and luggage - not just an overnight bag, amedium-size brown leather suitcase.
    Her face was glum but grim, with her jaw set. The hallman was coming for the suitcase, but I was there first. I asked him to get a taxi, and when he was outside I asked her if she had phoned someone, and she said no, she hadn’t decided where to go. She was going on, but the hallman got a break on a snowy night. A cab pulled up at the curb outside, and I ushered her out, let the flunky put the luggage in with the driver, handed him a quarter, got in after the client, told the hackie the first stop would be the nearest phone booth, and we rolled. Sally started to say something, but I put a finger to my lips and shook my head. The hackie might not only know the address of Matthew Blount who was booked for murder, he might even have recognized his daughter from her picture in the paper, and there was no point in letting him in on the latest development. He turned right on Seventy-eighth Street, right again on Madison,
    and in a couple of blocks stopped in front of a drugstore.
    I leaned forward to poke a dollar bill at him. “Here,” I said, “go in and blow it. Aspirin,cigarettes, lipstick for your wife, whatever you need. We’re going in conference. I’ll come in for you, say ten minutes, maybe less.”
    “Can’t,”he said. The law.”
    “Nuts. If a cop shows I’ll tell him it’s an emergency.” I got out my card case and showed him my license. He gave it a look, said, “Oh. How-do-you-do,” took the dollar, climbed out, and went.
    Sally gave me her face. “I’m glad you did that,” she blurted. “I’m glad.”
    “Sure,” I said, “I thought we could use a little privacy. Taxi drivers talk too much. Now if you’ve decided -“
    “I don’t mean that. I mean I’m glad you told my mother. And him. I wanted to,
    but I couldn’t. Now they know. How did you know?”
    “The deductive process. I’m a licensed detective, so I’m allowed to guess. Have you decided where you’re going?”
    “Yes, I’m going to a hotel - some little hotel. You