"I had only an inkling that something was going on. I asked no questions, for fear that I might learn more than I wanted to know. To set the record straight: I am not well-acquainted with Titus Pompo."
Egon Tamm asked Floreste: "Does this accord with your own recollection?"
"Closely enough."
"That will be all, Namour. You may step down."
Namour returned to his seat, still smiling his soft vague smile.
The Nunciator called out: "Drusilla co-Laveny Clattuc!
Please step forward!"
Drusilla, sitting between Aries and Spanchetta, rose uncertainly to her feet.
"Do you mean me?"
"Was your name called?"
"Oh, yes! That was my name."
"Then why should I not mean you?"
"I'm sure I don't know."
"Come forward, if you please."
Drusilla twitched her rather unsuitable black and persimmon-pink gown to its best advantage, then sauntered across the chamber to the chair reserved for witnesses.
"Please be seated," said the bailiff.
"You understand that you must answer all questions truthfully and in full detail?"
"Of course!" Drusilla, seating herself, gave Floreste a gay fluttering little wave of the fingers. Floreste, watching somberly, made no response.
"I'm sure I don't know what I can tell you," said Drusilla.
"I know nothing of this affair."
Egon Tamm asked: "You were not aware of the Thurben Island excursions?"
"I knew something was going on, and I suspected that it might be just a bit naughty--but naturally I had nothing to do with it."
"You were the representative of Ogmo Enterprises, were you not?"
Drusilla made a flippant gesture.
"Oh, that! I just carried around advertising material and dropped it off here and there."
The judge Dame Melba Veder asked sharply: "You did not actively solicit custom for the enterprise?"
Drusilla blinked.
"I'm not sure that I understand what you mean."
Floreste spoke in a dreary voice: "Don't badger the poor creature. She knew nothing."
Dame Melba paid him no heed.
"You were on terms of intimate friendship with Namour. Did you not discuss Ogmo Enterprises and the excursions with him?"
- "Not really. He looked at a brochure once or twice, and just laughed and threw it aside, and that was all there was to it."
"What of your husband, Aries?"
"About the same."
"That is all."
Egon Tamm said: "You may step down."
With patent relief and a cheerful smile for Floreste, Drusilla rejoined Aries and Spanchetta. Bodwyn Wook now approached the bench and spoke in a low voice to Egon Tamm, who in turn conferred with his colleagues. Bodwyn Wook went to the side and waited.
Egon Tamm addressed the chamber: "The Superintendent of Bureau B has brought another matter to our attention, which might as well be dealt with now. Sir Floreste, the affair does not concern you, and you may retire."
Floreste rose to his feet and looking neither right nor left, marched from the chamber. Egon Tamm said: "I now ask that Bodwyn Wook acquaint us with the details of the case he has brought to our attention."
Bodwyn Wook came forward.
