me my Answer.''
“Why? Doesn't he have the Book of Answers there?”
“Yes, but he can't decipher the technical parts, and my Answer is there.”
He nodded. “It does take most of a century to master the programming language. I happen to know. I did it faster because I had special training. But he'll get there in due course.”
“I can't wait a century!” she protested. "I've already gone from sweet sixteen to blah thirty-four. I'll sink into dismal anonymity before another decade is out.”
He glanced at her appraisingly. “More like six years.”
“Six years?”
“A person is only allowed three great mistakes. Your first was in not marrying that young man. Your second was in turning thirty. Your third will be in turning forty, and that will finish you as a potentially worthwhile female human being.”
He certainly understood her situation! “Magician Grey Murphy told me of the first mistake. If I can change that, I'll be left with only two strikes against me, and my life may become worthwhile. The rules aren't the same for married women. That's why I came to you.”
Humfrey considered. "I suppose I might as well do something while I'm waiting here. Suppose I give you the coding so that you can show Grey Murphy how to get your Answer from the Book?”
“That would be fine!” she said.
“And what service will you do me in return?”
“What do you need?”
“I need to have the Demon X(A/N)th take notice of me!“ he said. ”I've been cooling my heels in this waiting room for ten years, waiting for him to ask me what I want."
“You mean you're not going to Hell?”
“Not exactly. I'm here to take someone from Hell. Then I can return with her to Xanth.”
“With her? Who is she?”
“My wife.”
“The Gorgon is in Hell?”
“No. She's waiting for me to get my business done here. It's Rose I'm after.”
“Rose is your wife? But what about the Gorgon?”
“What about her?”
"How can you have a wife in Hell when the Gorgon is your wife?''
“I married Rose before.”
“But then—”
“It's a long story,” he said shortly.
Lacuna realized that Humfrey must have done more than twiddle his thumbs in the century or so he had lived before meeting the Gorgon. Rose must have been a wife who died. “But no matter how long it is, if you bring Rose back, you'll have two wives, and that's not allowed in Xanth.”
“Who says it isn't?”
“Queen Irene. When Prince Dolph got betrothed to two girls, she said he could marry only one.”
Humfrey sighed. “That does complicate things. But the Queen's word is law on matters of social protocol, however inconvenient it may be. Her son must have been most upset.”
“He was,” she agreed. “But he finally worked it out.”
“He was young. I am too old to adjust to such nonsense. What am I going to do? I can't leave Rose in Hell.”
26
Question Quest
“You are asking me? But you're the Magician of Information.”
"True. I shall have to think about this. I shall review my life, and gain the perspective to make the right decision. Herein lies your service: use your print to record my biography.''
“But I have nothing to print on,” she protested, surprised.
“Print on the wall.”
“Yes, I could do that,” she agreed. “But what is the point of printing it? Why can't you just review your life in your head?”
“Because my head isn't that big!” he snapped. “Also, I'm trying to attract the attention of the Demon X(A/N)th, and maybe the story of my life written on the wall will do it.”
“Why do you want to see the Demon X(A/N)th? I thought you were here to rescue your former wife.”
“I am. But only the Demon can authorize it.”
Lacuna nodded. It was beginning to make partial sense. “And you have waited here all this time, heating your heels, being ignored by the Demon? Why don't you take a break where it's more interesting?”
“Because the Demon doesn't want to deal with me.”
“But then the Demon may