by Hal Erickson
synopsis
Mrs. Sarah Vesper (Grace Field), a lifelong friend of police detective Frank Smith (Ben Alexander), reports that several items in her home have been stolen, apparently by her new maid Margaret. It turns out that the name "Margaret" is as artificial as the references which the thief supplied to Mrs. Vesper and her other victims. When Smith and his partner Joe Friday (Jack Webb) catch up with the phony maid, she provides them with a most curious "excuse" for her misdeeds. In a sequence more bizarre than amusing, Friday tries to suppress his laughter as Mrs. Vesper recalls that Smith had been quite a poet in his younger days! This episode was adapted from the Dragnet radio broadcast of July 26, 1955.
