"I

don't want to talk about it now ... It was all bluff, anyway, I'm sure of it. They'd never dare do such a thing to me."

Uther Offaw asked: "You're rambling dreadfully, you know.

Try to be lucid and tell us what happened."

"Nothing: just a misunderstanding. It's bound to be a bluff."

"You smell of hospital," said Kirdy Wook.

"Were doctors there? These drunken tourists that you chastised: were they doctors, by any chance?"

"I've got to go home now," said Aries.

"We'll talk about it later."

CHAPTER 4

In response to a summons from Bodwyn Wook, Glawen presented himself to the Bureau B outer office and was directed to a door at the end of a short corridor. An elderly clerk admitted him to an anteroom and after a question or two allowed him entry into Bodwyn Wook's private office: a tall chamber of irregular dimension, with chest-high wainscoting of green baize rectangles surrounded by dark moldings, and dark paneling to the ceiling. High on the wall at the end of the room a group of stuffed animal heads glared down from the shadows;

another wall was decorated with dozens of old photographs.

Bodwyn Wook turned away from the window and went to his chair. He indicated another chair for Glawen, then, leaning back, clasped his hands over his bald pate and inspected Glawen through half-closed yellow eyes.

"Well, then, Sergeant Clattuc! What are you prepared to tell me?"

An odd question, thought Glawen, and one perhaps calling for a meticulously careful reply. He said: "I have prepared no statement whatever, sir."

"Really? I thought that you had been consorting with the Bold Lions."

"True. I have observed them carefully and listened to their conversations. There is always wild talk which no one takes seriously; in fact, I have learned nothing of any consequence."

"No scurrilous gossip? No defamatory anecdotes? My tastes are catholic."

"Nothing which would justify a report, sir."

"I inquire not just from frivolity," said Bodwyn Wook.

"I am hoping always to intercept one unguarded sentence, or a phrase, or even a word which might unlock some startling mystery. I don't know this word or sentence, but I will recognize it when I hear it, and it is this word or sentence for which you must be on the alert."

"I will keep my ears open, sir."

"Good. In connection with Aries: exactly what took place the other night?"

Glawen looked up in surprise.

"Did not the Conservator discuss the matter with you?"

Bodwyn Wook darted a yellow stare across the desk, but Glawen had already perceived his transgression and had pulled his head down between his shoulders: enough, apparently, to amuse Bodwyn Wook, who gave a civil answer to the question.

"He provided a perfunctory account of what took place. Since his daughter was involved I did not press for details. What, then, are the full circum stances?"

"It started in a class at the lyceum," said Glawen.

"Aries heard Wayness say that sometimes she went out alone at night, to walk along the beach, or even swim. The idea interested Aries. That same night he donned a cloak and mask, and skulked along Beach Road to Riverview House. He came upon Wayness swimming in the lagoon and attacked her.

It seems to be something he likes to do. In any event, someone who wants to remain nameless followed him to Riverview House, and stopped him before he did anything worse than scare Wayness out of her wits."

"And how did this nameless person accomplish such a feat?"

"He hit Aries over the head with a club."

"Ha-ha! So Aries still wonders who interfered with his gallantry?"

"He probably suspects Milo, which suits me very well."

Bodwyn Wook nodded.

"Apparently and this is the opinion of the Conservator he did not go out intending to kill the girl. He disguised himself; he carried a bag to put over her head, and even a bag of knockout gas. These items saved his life, according to the Conservator."

"Perhaps so. But once she recognized him, I suspect that, after apologizing with great courtesy, he would have killed her. If you recall, Sessily Veder is dead."

"Not so fast! In this case Aries is demonstrably guilty. In the case of Sessily Veder, he is only a prime suspect."

"More so than ever, it seems to me."

"I would not argue with you there."

Glawen asked: "And what now with Aries? Is there an official Bureau position?"

"The case is closed," said Bodwyn Wook.

"He has been definitively punished, according to the Conservator, and anything more would be in the nature of double jeopardy."

"Can't we even expel him from Clattuc House?"

"On what charge? And who will bring it? And, most cogently, who will deal with Spanchetta?"

"In the meantime, he swaggers around as if nothing had happened," said Glawen in disgust.

"I can't bear to look at him."

"You must control your emotions. It is good training for you. When will the Bold Lions make their excursion to Yipton?"

"During the half-term holidays. But I'm not going."

Bodwyn Wook waved his finger.