Wayness nevertheless accompanied him to the door. Glawen said:

"Thank you for the invitation. I enjoyed meeting your friends, and' I'm sorry if I caused a disturbance."

Glawen bowed, turned, started up the path. He felt the pressure of Wayness' eyes on his back, but she did not call after him and he did not look back.

Syrene had dropped behind the hills; night had come to Araminta Station; stars blazed across the sky. Sitting by the open window Glawen;

could see, almost overhead, that strangely regular constellation known as the Pentagram, and off to the south the twisting progress of the Great Eel. ^ The day's events had receded in perspective; Glawen felt drainedl and quietly depressed. All was finished; nothing could make anyl difference, now. Conceivably events had turned out for the best--stilt| how vastly preferable if he had never gone to Riverview House that| day! Or perhaps ever. | Brooding was futile. The episodes of today, or something equivalent,;

had been inevitable from the beginning. Wayness had known as much. More or less tactfully she had tried to tell him, but, stubborn and' proud as any other Clattuc, he had refused to listen.

In regard to the events of the day, a mystery lingered. Why had Wayness brought him out to Riverview House, where, one way or another, he was sure to make a spectacle of himself?

He might never know the answer, and, in the course of time, he might not even care.

A chime summoned him to the telephone. The last person he had expected to see looked at him from the screen.

"Glawen?

What are you doing?"

"Nothing much. What about you?"

"I decided that I'd had enough society and I'm now supposed to be in bed with a headache."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"I don't really have a headache; I just wanted to be alone."

"In that case, you need not heed my condolences."

"I'll pack them away in fine linen and use them another time. Why did you run from me as if I had a loathsome disease?"

The question took Glawen by surprise. He stammered: "It seemed like a good time to be leaving."

Wayness shook her head.

"Not quite. You left because you were furious with me. Why? I've been staring into the dark it seems forever, and I'm tired of being mystified."

Glawen groped for an answer which would leave him a few shreds of dignity. He muttered: "I was more furious with myself than anyone else."

"I'm. still baffled," said Wayness.

"Why should you be angry with either one of us?"

"Because I did what I did not want to do! I had planned to be suave and polished, to charm everyone with my tact, and to avoid all controversy. Instead I blurted out all my opinions, caused a grand uproar and confirmed your mother's worst apprehensions."

"Come, now," said Wayness.

"It wasn't all that bad; in fact, not bad at all. You could have done far worse."

"No doubt, if I'd really put my mind to it. I could have become drunk and punched Julian in the nose, and called Dame Etrune a silly old blatherskite, and on my way out stopped to urinate in one of the potted plants."

"Everyone would have thought it simple Clattuc high spirits.

The main question remains, and you've made no attempt to answer it: why were you, or are you, furious with me? Tell me, so I won't do it again."

"I don't want to talk about it. As we both know, it doesn't make a particle of difference anymore."

"Oh? Why not?"

"You've made it clear to me how impossible it is to have any close

relationship between us. I tried not to believe it but now I know that you are right."

"And that's how you want it?"

"What an odd thing to say! My inclinations have never been considered at any time. Why are they under investigation now?"

Wayness laughed.

"Through an oversight I neglected to notify you that I've been reassessing the situation."

A sardonic chuckle rose in Glawen's throat, which he wisely held back.

"When will we know the results?"

"A few of them are in now."

"Would you like to meet me down on the beach and tell me about them?"

"I don't dare." Wayness looked over her shoulder.

"About the time I was climbing out the window. Mother and Sunje and Dame Clytie would come peeping in to see if I was resting nicely."

"My best ideas turn out to be impractical."

"Now, then: tell me what I did to infuriate you."

Glawen said: "I'm just a bit puzzled why you invited me to Riverview House in the first place."

"Poof!" a flippant feckless sound.

"Could it be that I wanted to show you off to Sunje and Julian?"

"Really?"

"Really. Is that all?"