From Hollywood, it's time now for...

Johnny Dollar.

George Reed here, Johnny.

Well, George, I'm really glad to talk to you.

Oh?

Why do you say it that way?

Because every insurance case I handled for that company of yours

pays me a nice fat fee.

And right now I can use a little extra case.

Well, now, Johnny... So tell me all. What's Floyd's of England upset about this time? Well, I'm not sure. Uh-oh, here we go again. But, Johnny, I just received a transatlantic telephone call from Paris, France, for a man who wanted to contact you but didn't know where to call you. And he identified himself only as Le Chagree. Ah? The Chagree. It's French, Johnny. No. And I believe it means the gray cat. Yeah. And George, the name fits him. You know him, then? His real name is De Marsak. He probably knows more about the dark alleys and back streets of Paris. Oh? Yeah, and about the people. In other words, the underworld.

What did he call about? He mentioned the Blue Madonna. The what? It's a painting, Johnny, a small oil painting by a modern artist named Vincent Bardot. It's owned by a Mr. Kingsley Holland down in Philadelphia. Yeah? It hangs in the Gavin Galleries, and we've insured it for $12,000. Well, what did he have to say about it?

Only that you're to call him.

His number there in Paris is Orleans 57722. Uh-huh. That he has some very interesting information for you about that painting. Oh, sure. That he'll be glad to give me for a price. Exactly. I can't for the life of me figure what his interest is in it.

If there were anything amiss,

I'm sure the gallery would have called me. George, if you knew that character as well as I do, you'd okay my expense account without even looking at it and be willing to pay me that big fee I was talking about. What do you mean? Want to make a bet? What kind of a bet? I'll give you odds a 10 to 1 that whatever's hanging in that gallery down there in Philadelphia is not the blue Madonna.

What? What kind of a bet? I'll give you odds a 10-to-1 that whatever's hanging in that gallery down there in Philadelphia

is not the Blue Madonna.

What?

Now look, Johnny, good heaven.

George, I'll be talking to you.

Bob Bailey, in the exciting adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account,

America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator...

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