The Lost Heir

Ladies and gentlemen, the ringing of that phone bell brings you mystery adventure. Narrow Wolf's office, Archie Goodwin speaking. Mr. Horace Crayle. Crayle. Does Mr. Crayle know Mr. Wolf? Oh, I see. Where is it, Archie?

My name Horace Crayle. His secretary says he wants to talk to you. What about him? I don't know. Horace? Mr. Wolf's rather busy right now, but I'll give him a message if you wish. Yes.

Yeah, wait a second, Mr. Wald. What? Black on red and red on black. Archie, this is solitaire. So solitaire is a game that is played by one single person alone. They wish to put a red card on a red card or a black card on a black card.

You're cheating. Of course I'm cheating. What is the message Mr. Horace Crayle, Secretary, asks you to convey? Just that he wants to see you. In a rather tragic sense, I suppose he does. My tragic.

He knows he wants to see me. He is blind. Tell him to come here at his own convenience. Okay. What does Mr. Kraya want to see Mr. Wolf about? A murder? A murder that may still be prevented.

Archie. Just a second. What? I have run the cards out perfectly. Is it his own murder? Mr. Kraya wants us to prevent it. Ladies and gentlemen, it's that renowned genius who is the bulkiest, bulkiest, most ponderous and most brilliant detective in the world.

Yes, none other than that chair-borne mass of unpredictable intellect, Niro Wolf, created by Rex-style and brought to you in a new series of adventures over this NBC network in the person of Mr. Sidney Greenstreet.

Once and long while Mr. Wolf and I talk about this affair, when we do, we call it the case of the Lost Air. But I don't think the title's quite adequate. For me, it ought to be called the case of the Gone Goose, and I was the Goose.