Erle Gardner - The Case of the Singing Skirt

"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 myself. I'm on display. I'm sucker bait. I have a good figure and I know it, and I'm supposed to let other people know it. That's part of the job."

"And Helly, as you call him, has noticed it?" Mason asked.

"I'll say he's noticed it! He noticed it right from the start. Last night he-Mr. Mason, he asked me last night if I'd run away with him. He wanted to throw up the whole business and start all over again."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him no."

"Well?" Mason asked, somewhat impatiently.

"All right," she said, "I'll get to the point. Nadine Ellis went to an attorney, a Mr. Gowrie. Do you know him?"

" Darwin Gowrie?" Mason asked.

"Darwin C. Gowrie," she said.

"I've heard of him," Mason said. "Quite a divorce lawyer, I believe."

"That's right. Mr. Gowrie called early this morning. He wanted to talk with me. He said he was Nadine's attorney-I thought, of course, it was about the legal point you had raised about the gambling, but I couldn't imagine why he wanted to talk with me. I thought he would want to talk with George."

"But you saw him?"

"I saw him," she said, "and it seems what he really wanted was to question me about Helly."

"Getting evidence for a divorce?"

"I don't know. He asked me all about my relationship with Helly, how long I'd known him, how many times he had been at the club, whether he noticed me and… well, whether he'd ever made passes at me."

"Had he?" Mason asked.

"Of course," she said.

"And you told this to Gowrie?"

"No."

"You lied?"

"I lied."

"Convincingly?" Mason asked.

"I hope so," she said. "Isn't a woman supposed to… well, isn't there supposed to be sort of a code of ethics about-?"

"Professional confidences?" Mason asked.

"Something like that."

"I wouldn't know," Mason said. "Why do you come to me?"

"Because I want your advice."

"On what point?"

"I want to go to Mrs. Ellis and tell her."

"Tell her what?"

"Tell her she is wrong about Helman and me and shouldn't make a fool of herself. She has a very fine husband. She'd better hang on to him. I've seen too many instances of women divorcing a man over some little thing and then regretting their action."

"Making passes is a little thing?" Mason asked.

"Of course. They all do-that is, nearly all-and I wouldn't give a snap of my finger for those who don't. Most of them don't really mean a thing by it. It's just the normal biological reaction of the male animal."

"You intend to explain that to Mrs. Ellis?"

"Not that so much as… well… the facts of marriage."

"What," Mason asked, "are the facts of marriage?"

"A man asks a woman to marry him because he enjoys her companionship. As long as he enjoys her companionship he's going to stay home with her. When he begins to wander around, it's because something has happened to take the keen edge off that enjoyment."

"Doesn't that happen with time?" Mason asked.

"It can," she said. "But the point is that when it does, the natural thing for the woman to do is to start reproaching the man, throwing it up to him that he's neglecting her, that he's getting tired of her now that she's given him the best years of her life, and all of that."

"You seem to know a lot about it," Mason said.

"I've been through it," she said.

"And played your cards wrong?" Mason asked.

"Just as wrong as I could have played them," she said. "I lost a mighty good man. If I'd only had sense enough to make it a pleasure for him to come home, he'd have stayed home. Instead of that, I made the home a hell on earth for him and pushed him right into the arms of a cheap little tramp who took him to the cleaners."

"But then he came back?" Mason asked.

She shook her head.

"Why not?"

"Let's not go into that," she said.

"All right," Mason told her. "What do you want to know?''

"Whether you think, under the circumstances, I should go to Mrs. Ellis and tell her exactly… well, put my cards on the table. I don't want her husband. I wouldn't have him on a bet. He's… well, he just doesn't appeal to me, that's all."

"But you appeal to him?"

"Apparently," she said. And then added, "And to about ninety per cent of the other customers. Otherwise I wouldn't have lasted for the five months I've been there.

"I'm sorry for Helly. I've given him some sisterly advice. I'd like to talk to her. I-"

The phone rang.

Della Street answered it, then cupped her hand over the mouthpiece and said, "It's for you personally, Mr. Mason."

Mason raised his eyebrows.

"Want to take it in the law library?"

"I'll take it here," Mason said. "Who is it?"

"An attorney," Della Street said.

Mason, suddenly warned by something in her manner, hesitated. "It is…?"

She nodded.

Mason said, "Oh, well, I may as well take it here anyway. Let's find out what it is he wants."

Mason picked up his own phone, and Della Street threw a switch which connected both phones.

"Hello," Mason said.

"Perry Mason?" a man's voice asked.

"That's right."

"I'm Darwin C. Gowrie, Mr. Mason."

"Oh, yes, Mr. Gowrie."

"I'm calling you on behalf of Mrs. Helman Ellis-that is, it's in relation to a matter you discussed with Mrs. Ellis yesterday."

"What can I do for you?" Mason asked.

"That's a most interesting case you gave Mrs. Ellis yesterday," Gowrie said. "I feel rather guilty going before a women's club and stealing your thunder. Wouldn't you like to appear with me and take the credit for having ferreted out this decision?"

"Not me," Mason said. "If that's all that's worrying you, you have a complete clearance and a free hand. Go ahead and tell them about it. You don't need to mention my name."

"I've looked up the case," Gowrie said. "It's certainly a very interesting and yet a very logical application of the law. But do you realize what it's going to mean if this case is publicized? It's going to put the gamblers out of business. They just can't afford to buck a situation like that."

Mason said, "I spread it on a little thick for the benefit of George Anclitas. Actually, it's an appellate decision. The State Supreme Court or the United States Supreme Court may not go that far."