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Toham, Healy & Yablon, and suspected for the first tiht not prove that easy The two men shook hands warmly, then Tom introduced Yablon to his client and his two associates

Once they were all seated and the maid had served tea, Tom opened his briefcase and handed over the two contracts to Yablon Aware of the tian to take Mrs Sherwood’s lawyer through the documents as quickly as he could As he did so, the old man asked him a number of questions Townsend felt his lawyer must have dealt with them all satisfactorily, because after they had reached the last page, Mr Yablon turned to his client and said, “I an these two docu in order”

Townsend looked at his watch It was 10:43 He smiled as Tom opened his briefcase and removed the two money orders Before he could pass them over, Mrs Sherwood turned to her lawyer and asked, “Does the book contract stipulate that if Schumann’s fail to print 100,000 copies of ned, they will have to pay a penalty of 1 million?”

“Yes, it does,” said Yablon

“And that if the book fails to make the New York Times best-seller list, they will have to forfeit a further million?”

Townsend s that there was no clause about the distribution of the book in the contract, and no mention of a time limit by which the novel had to appear on the best-seller list As long as he printed 100,000 copies, which he could do on any of his American presses, the whole exercise need only cost him around 40,000

“That is all covered in the second contract,” Mr Yablon confirmed

Tom tried to conceal his astonishment How could aoht—they seeot aith it

“And Mr Townsend is able to supply us with drafts for the full amounts?” asked Mrs Sherwood Tom slid the two money orders across to Yablon, who passed the at them

Townsend waited for Mrs Sherwood to smile She frowned

“This is not e agreed,” she said

“I think it is,” said Townsend, who had collected the drafts from the senior cashier of the Manhattan Bank earlier thatand checked them carefully

“This one,” she said, holding up the draft for 20 million, “is fine But this one is not what I requested”

Townsend looked confused “But you agreed that the advance for your novel should be 100,000,” he said, feeling his o dry

“That is correct,” said Mrs Sherwood fir was that this check would be for two million one hundred thousand dollars”