A research scientist, unhappy with his marriage, finds solace in the arms of his new secretary. But she has more than love on her mind.

An attempt to decipher the Bellows process triggers the Bellows reaction in old Horace. (Both he & the bad guy are played by Robert Dryden.) Cherchez l'homme!

Tragic but fantastic story, one of my new favorites.

This one grabbed me and forced me to stay up past my bedtime! You could feel for the characters until they proved themselves to be unworthy.

Horace Bellows, 60 years old and dissatisfied with his work and his marriage, is enchanted by his new employee, Ann Jackson, a 30-year-old stenographer. While his wife, Marjory, spends her evenings at committee meetings, Horace spends his time with Ann, first complaining that his wife doesn’t understand him and then talking incessantly about his chemical discoveries, for which he never really got due credit. But, when Marjory exposes the real reason for Ann’s interest in him, Horace learns that his wife is the smart one after all.

To be clear, Mrs. Bellows hires the PI to investigate Ms. Jackson, but she misinterprets the information the PI provides. Mrs. Bellows comes to the conclusion that Horace has found in his secretary an intelligent hard working young woman. It is Horace, once alerted to the PI’s report, that puts the pieces together.