The Case of the Daring Divorcee Read Free

the duties of secretary, stenographer, receptionist and telephone operator, smiled rather vaguely at Mason.
    "I'm Perry Mason," he said. "I was talking with Mr. Banner on the telephone and-"
    "Oh, yes," she interrupted, coming to life with startling alacrity. "Oh, yes, Mr. Mason!"
    She pushed back the secretarial chair, came around the desk, smiled over her shoulder and said, "This way, please."
    Mason noted the trim figure, the lithe walk, as she went to the door and opened it.
    "Mr. Mason," she announced.
    The man who was seated behind the big desk got up and came forward with outstretched hand, his face twisting into a slow smile. He was in his late thirties, chunky in build and had shrewd eyes.
    "This is an honor, Counselor," he said. "I'd have been glad to come over and see you but you talked so fast I didn't have a chance to get my thoughts organized.
    "This is Miss Mitchell, my secretary, Mr. Mason. She's quite a fan of yours."
    The secretary regarded Mason with dark eyes in which there was quite plainly a hint of personalized interest. She extended her hand and said, "I'm delighted to meet you.', Mason took her hand and bowed gravely. "A pleasure, Miss Mitchell."
    "See that we're not disturbed," Banner said. "Shut off all telephone calls."
    "Oh, it isn't that important," Mason said, smiling.
    "It is to me," Banner told him. "Sit down, Mr. Mason. Make yourself comfortable… This Hastings case may be rather long and drawn-out, but if your client wants to act sensibly there's no reason why the property settlement part of it can't be handled almost overnight."
    "You said you had a proposition in mind that you couldn't outline over the telephone?" Mason suggested.
    "Well, I have and I haven't," Banner told him. "Of course, you know the gambit, Mason. I'm not going to be dumb enough to stick my neck out and say, '_Here's what my client will do_.' That would crucify us at some later date.
    "So I'll play it the way a smart lawyer should and say, '_This is what I am prepared to advise my client to do_.' That's not binding on my client, it's not binding on me, it's not binding on anyone.
    "If you accept the offer and we make a settlement, that's fine. If you don't like the offer, you can't use it against my client and you can't use it against me."
    "Fair enough," Mason said. "What's the offer?"
    "I will advise my client to pay Adelle Hastings ten thousand dollars a year for a period of five years, or until she remarries, whichever comes first. I will advise him to leave her a flat sum of fifty thousand dollars in his will and provide in the agreement that this bequest is irrevocable unless she predeceases him."
    "That's rather an awkward way of handling it," Mason said. "I don't like this idea of a will. How about having him take out a paid-up fifty-thousand-dollar life insurance policy?"
    "That might be arranged," Banner said. "I have discussed a settlement along these other lines with my client and-Well, you know, Mason, I'm not sticking my neck out, but I'll put it this way: There would be no serious objection on the part of my client to the settlement I have outlined."
    "All right," Mason said, "that's your offer. How much-"
    "Not an offer, not an offer," Banner said hastily. "It's what I am willing to advise my client to do."
    "All right," Mason said, "that's what you are willing to advise your client to do. Now, how much higher will your client go?"
    "No higher," Banner said. "That's absolutely tops. We don't do horse-trading around this office, Mason."
    "I take it then I either accept that or reject it-in the event I become counsel for Mrs. Hastings."
    "Well," Banner said thoughtfully, "we wouldn't want to slam any doors in each other's faces, of course, but that's as high as I'm prepared to advise my client to go… You haven't talked with Mrs. Hastings yet?"
    "Not yet," Mason said.
    "She's a very charming young woman," Banner said. "She makes a wonderful impression."
    "And wears well?" Mason asked.
    "And wears well.