Glawen asked in wonder, "What's that all mean?"

"It's a complicated way of not saying no." Wayness started off down the path.

"Wait!" cried Glawen.

"I'm still not clear on a number of things!"

"Clarity is not what I had in mind." Wayness stepped close and kissed him.

"Thanks for walking me home. You're a nice kindly young gentleman, even handsome in a grim sort of way, and I like you."

Glawen tried to catch her but she ran off along the path.

Just before passing from sight she turned, waved, then disappeared among the trees.

On Verd evening of each week the Bold Lions met in a corner of the Old Arbor, to conduct business, drink wine and discuss the trends and fashions. A peculiar mood characterized these occasions, based on the premise that each Bold Lion was inherently noble and superior in all his phases to the general ruck of man. Golden haze hung over the table; large schemes were proposed and analyzed; each of the eternal

verities in turn came under examination and from time to time were amended.

Each Bold Lion sat at his dedicated place around the table."

At the far end, with his back to the arcade, sat Aries, with Kirdy Wook to his right and Uther Offaw to his left. Jardine Laverty faced Aries from the far end of the table, while the others sat to either side in their wonted places. Glawen, arriving late, took his seat between Cloyd Diffin and Jardine Laverty. Several jugs of wine had already been consumed, and the conversation was going well. Jardine Laverty, friave, handsome and carefully dressed, was making a point: "--musty old laws quite irrelevant to our needs.

Still they exist and every day we are thwarted and demeaned by some long-dead prejudice."

Jardine in this case referred to the laws which banned the mining of precious gems: a sore point among the Bold Lions, since a month or two of prospecting the Magic Mountain mineral beds might well make millionaires of them all.

Kiper Offaw, who already had tippled at least adequately, called out in a rather wild voice: "Put it to the vote! All in favor? All opposed?"

Kiper was considered somewhat brash and no one paid him any heed. He contented himself singing the refrain of an old song:

"Oh sell no more drink to my father!

"It makes him so strange and so wild!"

Shugart Veder, who represented the conservative point of view, stated: "Certainly these old rules should be brought in line with new concepts, but this would mean rewriting the Charter, which could only be effected at a Grand Conclave of the Naturalist Society."

"Bah!" growled Aries.

"Fat chance of that. Over the years they've ossified and become an odd type of subrace, like the Yips. They don't want change! Give them a fish and a pound of seaweed, they'll make soup and never ask for anything better."

Kirdy frowned.

"Let's be reasonable. We're petty functionaries in the service of the Naturalists, and like it or not we've got to mind our manners."

' The Bold Lions at Their Table Aries Clattuc Kirdy Wook Uther Oftaw Cloyd Diffin Shugart Vedcr Glawen Clattuc Kiper Offaw Jardine Laverty

Aries drank down the contents of his mug at a gulp.

"I don't like it."

"Well, you must put up with it, or leave. Those are the cold facts."

Aries gave a throaty chuckle.

"You're a Wook and that's Wook thinking. I'm a Clattuc and I have other notions."

Shugart Veder put a petulant inquiry: "Can someone tell me where the Charter actually resides? It's not at River-view House, nor at Stroma. If someone wanted to verify the text, where would he look?"

"Ha, ha!" cried Kiper.

"It's all a great joke! There isn't now and never has been a Charter! We've been dancing jigs to the music of ghosts!"

Jardine raised his elegant eyebrows.

"Kiper, if you please!

Either talk sense or pay for the wine!"

"Or both," said Uther.

"Exactly so," said Kirdy.

"But let's clear up this foolish talk once and for all. The Charter is obviously in the Society Archives on Earth, and if any benighted soul is ignorant of the text, copies abound."

"That's not the point!" argued Jardine.

"Was the Charter designed to enforce poverty upon the folk of Araminta Station? It's hard to believe anyone would be quite so niggardly!"

"Wrong, as usual," said Uther Offaw.

"The Charter was drafted by Naturalists^ with conservancy in mind."

"And nothing but conservancy," added Kirdy Wook.

Aries grumbled: "They're all peaceably dead, and we're still suffering for their mistakes."

Kirdy gave a caw of scornful laughter.

"Mistakes? Nonsense!

They wanted workers at Araminta Station, not millionaires."

"Strange folk indeed," sighed Jardine.

"Then and now."

"High-stepping old pettifoggers in tight black pants!"