doubts assailed her.

The old man at whose right she sat noticed, and reached out to lay his
hand on hers.

"My dear, you're worried," he said softly. "You, of all people,
shouldn't be, you know."

"The theory isn't complete," she replied. "And I could wish for more
positive verification. I'd hate to think I'd got you into this--"

Garnon of Roxor laughed. "No, no!" he assured her. "I'd decided upon
this long before you announced the results of your experiments. Ask
Girzon; he'll bear me out."

"That's true," the young man who sat at Garnon's left said, leaning
forward. "Father has meant to take this step for a long time. He was
waiting until after the election, and then he decided to do it now, to
give you an opportunity to make experimental use of it."

The man on Dallona's right added his voice. Like the others at the
table, he was of medium stature, brown-skinned and dark-eyed, with a
wide mouth, prominent cheekbones and a short, square jaw. Unlike the
others, he was armed, with a knife and pistol on his belt, and on the
breast of his black tunic he wore a scarlet oval patch on which a pair
of black wings, with a tapering silver object between them had been
superimposed.

"Yes, Lady Dallona; the Lord Garnon and I discussed this, oh, two
years ago at the least. Really, I'm surprised that you seem to shrink