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"It’ll be way past Jenny’s bedti"

"So what’s there for ht on"

"I could And there’ll be a fresh pot of coffee waiting for you They don’t make it with chicory up there, do they?"

"They don’t"

"In that case," she said, "I guess you’ll be glad to get home"

Nineteen

The parlor floor of the Connoisseurs, half a flight up fro with their extensive philatelic library Thewas held on the second floor, with food and drinks arrayed on a table in a roo; a room for displays and lectures was at the rear Keller ht Dewar’s and soda and helped himself to cheese and crackers and salted nuts while Feldspar introduced him to various members, all of whom seemed eneral ide collector," said one nized fro about it is that there’s always so about it--there’s always soured he’d remember that one But he ely occupied with figuring out how the club could provide access to Thessalonian House There was a stairway leading to the upper floors, although a velvet rope indicated it was off-limits Still, if he found a way to conceal hi broke up, the velvet rope would hardly stop hiht to be able to get onto the roof

And then what? If all of these buildings were teneainst one another, enabling an adventurous fellow to spring fros in question were the saht, and it seemed to him that the monastery was taller by a story And both structures were on a block in Murray Hill that had never been given over to tene and O’Herlihy’s was almost certainly one that not even Nijinsky could span

And if he somehow found hiet the roof The club surely had access to the rear courtyard, from the basement if not from the parlor floor, so that’s where he could direct his efforts, if indeed he could hide out while everybody else went home The club’s rear exit would be locked, but fire laws assured that they could be opened from within And there’d be a rear door for the monastery, and if he could work out a way to open it, why then he’d be in the basethere

That was as far as he got before the for and showing his PowerPoint presentation, and Keller had the good fortune to get caught up in it and, at least for the tiet all about Father Paul Vincent O’Herlihy and the inable fortress that kept the , Keller woke up early During his shower he realized that he felt good, and wondered why He decided that soned hilad si home

He found the same food cart as yesterday, ordered the same breakfast of croissant and coffee, and told himself he’d just saved another 30 And yesterday, by God, he’d fed himself all day for the couple of dollars breakfast cost him The coffee and sandwiches at Peachpit had been a satisfactory lunch, and he’d skipped supper after having enjoyed the food and drink at the Connoisseurs And nohile he enjoyed feeding his triht breakfast, the plu the first of today’s whiskey down his throat while he prepared to sweat out yesterday’s, and--

Wait a minute

He dropped the remains of his croissant in the trash, followed it with his unfinished coffee No tis to do, people to see

Alphabet City had already changed substantially when Keller was last there, its nasty tene monied tenants Noas even harder to recall what a foul pit it had once been

But he was comforted to see it was still a place to cop, if you could use your eyes and kne to comport yourself Keller, on East 5th Street between Avenues C and D, watched business being done, and got into character He picked out the right man to approach and braced him

"Got that," the fellow said "Say you want a set of works, too? You sure ’bout that? Nobody shoots this shit, man These downs, they ain’t like lady or set abscesses"

"It’s for a friend," Keller told him

"The very best," the le et up there in price, but e have here is a blend of severalsixty years"

"And you say it’s five hundred dollars?"

"A towering su the vest and trousers of a three-piece gray suit, with a fresh white shirt and what Keller had to think was the tie of a good regiment His hair was styled and his ht for his role behind the counter of a Madison Avenue purveyor of fine wines and spirits

"The price," he continued, "is ten times that of any number of truly excellent Scotches But to keep it in perspective, we’ve any nuet three or four times as much, and soht vintage, a Lafite Rothschild--and to open such a bottle is to finish it An hour or two and you’ve emptied it, whereas a liter of whiskey can be best enjoyed a dram at a time, over months or even years And every tienerosity of the giver"

"It certainly looks expensive," Keller said

"At the very least, the packaging is equal to the contents Notice the bottle is sealed with lead over its twist-to-open cork stopper Notice the wooden casket that holds the bottle, brass-bound and equipped with its own tiny brass key It looks not only expensive but special One glance and the recipient cannot fail to be aware of the high esteem in which you hold him"