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legally in possession of the mask?"

The merchant glanced from side to side as though seeking a way of

escape. Finding none, he babbled in the flat broad accent that Peabody

exhibited also, and most of the people in the north of England, "Your

highness, I swear! I swear what I said is true! I bought it from a

stranger, on the first day of April as I recall."

"Are you always so ready to do business with strangers?"

"Sir, never! Never in my life before!" Higgins's voice dropped to a

bare whisper. "I can only say I must have been mad -- must have had

a brainstom, your highness! For I cannot recall the man's face, and

I failed to enter his name in my account-book! Never in my life have

I done any such thing before -- ask anyone who knows me in Jorque,

they'll say I'm a respectable merchant and -- "

"Enough!" Curtly the Prince cut short the stammered flow of

words. "Navarro, have you investigated the fellow's story?"

"I have, sir. And it does seem to be true that up till now Higgins has

been a man of excellent reputation. I've spoken to several people who

have sold or pawned him goods, and they say he has always been careful

to ascertain they had proper title to what they were offering. He has

had a number of extratemporal objects through his hands -- small curios

not worth space in a museum -- and the office of the Society in Jorque

has always found him scrupulously careful about checking the importation

licence."

"Yet this time he buys contraband from a total stranger! He must indeed

have had a brainstorm!"

"And sold it to me, your highness!" Don Arcimboldo spoke up diffidently.

"To me who had no reason for questioning his right to its possession."

The Prince shrugged. "That's as may be, Don Arcimboldo -- one still wonders

why you didn't suspect it of being imported illegally. Still, I grant that

Higgins's alleged respectability would have disinclined you to investigate."

"Sir." A single dry word from one of the hitherto silent General Officers.

Don Miguel tensed, for even that one word betrayed the unmistakable accent

of a Mohawk. His guess at the speaker's identity was confirmed in the next

second by the Prince.

"Yes, Red Bear?"

The Director of Fieldwork for the Society! They'd really brought the big

guns to bear on this case!

"A motion, sir," Red Bear grunted. "That the merchant be further

interrogated. That Don Arcimboldo be discharged as an innocent party.

That we continue in private session to discuss what has passed."

There was a murmur of agreement from his colleagues. The Prince slapped

his palm on the table with a sound like a pistol-shot.

"So resolved! Clear the room," he added in a lower tone to his personal

aide.

Don Miguel made to rise, but the Prince motioned him back to his seat

with a frown, and he complied with a sense of apprehension. It was not

exactly normal practice for a lowly Licentiate of the Society with a

mere four years of service and five field trips to his credit to be

invited to sit in during a confidential meeting of the General Officers.

Someone -- and from his just-uttered remarks it might well be Red Bear --

was obviously taking this matter very seriously indeed.

V

As soon as all non-members of the Society had left the Chamber and the

doors had been locked with a great slamming of heavy bolts, the lights

went up and the officers relaxed in their chairs, shaking back the cowls

from their heads. Don Miguel was almost surprised to discover that in full

illumination the Chamber was just a room -- large, palatial, but simply

a room. And, equally, the General Officers were ordinary men. There was

exceptional character and experience stamped on their faces; nonetheless,

they were men.

He found himself able to relax a little also.

The Prince fumbled a large pipe from a pouch at his belt and stuffed it

with tobacco in coarse-cut hunks. Lighting it, he mumbled around the stem.

"Well, young Navarro, I don't mind telling you that you put the cat