able to inspect the image closely. To be frank, she looked first at
the woman's clothes, finding that her suit was a very trim affair of
blue leather, cut in a semi-military fashion. Slashes of dark-red
material across the sleeves were repeated about the collar, while
the cap, a jaunty affair with a bell crown, matched the suit. The
lower ends of the breeches, much like ordinary riding trousers, were
tucked into high lace-up boots of red leather.

Before Billie could see any more other than that the surgeon was
small-featured in striking contrast to the robustness of her body,
she stepped from the room. A moment later an automatic elevator took
her to a lower floor, where she was greeted by a person whom Billie
assumed to be a head nurse.

"Anything out of the ordinary, surgeon?"

"No," with a bruskness which was startling by comparison with her
cheeriness upstairs. "I understand that Dr. Norbith wishes to go
home as soon as possible?"

"Yes."

"He may go as soon as the cast is hard. Make sure his machine is a
smooth one."

The nurse simply nodded as the surgeon stepped on, through a very
ordinary pair of sliding doors, and so on out into an anteroom and
thence to a porch, where she stood looking into the street for a
moment.