come to ask your help...." It was so dark, he could not see her; he knew where she was only by the glitter of the jewel on her neck-chain as it arced through the blackness. 

 "Corisande...." he breathed. 

 "Ludovick...." she sighed. 

 Now that the amenities were over, she resumed, "Against my will, I have been involved in the family plot. My uncle has invented a secret weapon which he believes will counteract the power of the barriers." 

 "But I thought you devised it!" 

 "So it was you in the courtyard. Well, what happened was I wanted to gain time, so I said I had a secret weapon of my own invention which I had not perfected, but which would cost considerably less than my uncle's model. We have to watch the budget, you know, because we can hardly expect the Belphins to supply the components for this job. Anyhow, I thought that, while my folks were waiting for me to finish it, you would have a chance to warn the Belphins." 

 "Corisande," he murmured, "you are as noble and clever as you are beautiful." 

 Then he caught the full import of her remarks. "Me! But they won't pay any attention to me!" 

 "How do you know?" When he remained silent, she said, "I suppose you've already tried to warn them about us." 

 "I—I said you had nothing to do with the plot." 

 "That was good of you." She continued in a warmer tone: "How many Belphins did you warn, then?" 

 "Just one. When you tell one something, you tell them all. You know that. Everyone knows that." 

 "That's just theory," she said. "It's never been proven. All we do know is that they have some sort of central clearing house of information, presumably The Belphin of Belphins. But we don't know that they are incapable of thinking or acting individually. We don't really know much about them at all; they're very secretive." 

 "Aloof," he corrected her, "as befits a ruling race. But always affable." 

 "You must warn as many Belphins as you can." 

 "And if none listens to me?" 

 "Then," she said 

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