of Istanbul and no other place on earth. Moreover, they were the sounds of Istanbul at nightfall.

Duval was still. Ghalil looked at Coghlan and was silent. And Coghlan stared at the sheet of ancient parchment.

He faced the completely inexplicable, and he had to accept it. His name and present address--no puzzle, if Ghalil simply lied. The line about Laurie's father, Mannard, implied that he was in danger of some sort; but it didn't mean much because of its vagueness. The line referring to another address, 80 Hosain, and a "gadget" was wholly without any meaning at all. But the line about "professor, president"--that hit hard.

It was what Coghlan told himself whenever he thought of Laurie. He was a mere instructor in physics. As such, it would not be a good idea for him to ask Laurie to marry him. In time he might become a professor. Even then it would not be a good idea to ask the daughter of an umpty-millionaire to marry him. In more time, with the breaks, he might become a college president--the odds were astronomically against it, but it could happen. Then what? He'd last in that high estate until a college board of trustees decided that somebody else might be better at begging for money. All in all, then, too darned few prospects to justify his ever asking Laurie to marry him--only an instructor, with a professorship the likely peak of his career, and a presidency of a college something almost unimaginable. So, when Coghlan thought of Laurie, he said sourly to himself, "Professor, president, so what?" And was reminded not to yield to any inclination to be romantic.

But he had not said that four-word phrase to anybody on earth. He was the only human being to whom it would mean anything at all. It was absolute proof that he, Thomas Coghlan, had written those words. But he hadn't. He swallowed.

"That's my handwriting," he said carefully, "and I have to suppose that I wrote it. But I have no memory of doing so. I'll be much obliged if you'll tell me what this is all about."

Duval burst into frantic speech.

"That is what I have come to demand of you, M. Coghlan! I have been a sane man! I have been a student of the Byzantine empire and its history! I am an authority upon it! But this--modern English, written when there was no modern English? Arabic numerals, when Arabic numerals of that form were unknown? House-numbers when they did not exist, and the city of Istanbul when there was no city of that 

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