A year ago I could barely stand, and now I can take five or six steps. Your name's Goodwin?" "Right." "My brother-in-law said you wanted to see me." 17 I nodded. "That's not strictly accurate, but it will do. He wanted me to see you. My name's Archie Goodwin, and I work for Nero Wolfe, the detective, and your�" "Oh! You're that Goodwin?" "Right. Your brother-in-law called at Mr. Wolfe's office today and wanted to engage his services. He says that his sister�" A door off to the right opened, and a young woman my age came stepping in, with papers in her hands. She was fair, with gray-green eyes, and as a spectacle there wasn't a thing wrong with her, at a glance. Halfway across to the wheelchair she stopped and inquired, "Will you sign the letters now, Mr. Huck?" "Later, Miss Riff." He was a little crisp. "Later will do." "You said�I thought perhaps�" "There's no hurry." "Very well. I'm sorry if I interrupted." She turned and was gone, closing the door behind her so gently that there was no noise at all. I asked Huck, "That was Dorothy Riff?" "Yes. Why?" "I was telling you. Mr. Lewent says his sister promised him that in case of her death he would get a substantial sum. That was 18 about a year before she died, and he is certain she would not have failed to arrange to keep her promise." Huck was shaking his head. "He heard her will read, and he saw it." "He says she told him she wouldn't put it in her will because that would have violated a promise she had made her father. He thinks she left it in someone's care for him-- not you, he says, for you would have followed her instructions fully and promptly. He suspects it was Miss Riff or Miss Marcy or Mrs. O'Shea, and he wants Mr. Wolfe to investigate the matter, but he says it can be investigated only with your knowledge and consent, and that's why he asked you to see me. Also Mr. Wolfe thought--" Another door swung open, this time the one by which Lewent and I had entered from the hall, and another female was with us.