her hair would touch the floor, but her golden-blond locks came three inches shy, as she had suspected. “She’s nothing but a burden. She’s cranky, she’s not especially bright as far as I can see, and she’s probably the clumsiest kid I’ve ever met — she’s always dropping things, and she walks like a landlubber on a ship. How are we supposed to succeed with someone like that on our team?”
“Kate’s right,” said Sticky, looking up from a geology book. “Constance will only make things harder.”
“I feel the same way,” Reynie admitted. “But doesn’t it seem strange that Mr. Benedict would let her join us if she wasn’t important?”
“He may be a genius, but even geniuses make mistakes,” said Kate, whose face had gone red as a tomato. She dropped backward off the bunk, flipping in the air to land on her feet, and casually pulled her hair back into a ponytail. “Maybe he feels sorry for her.”
“Maybe he does,” Reynie said, “but surely he wouldn’t let his feelings spoil the mission. He must have good reasons for including her.”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Kate said. “You have to go talk to him.”
“I do? Why me?”
“Because you’re the only one who can do it. If Sticky goes, he’ll just mumble and wipe his glasses. If I go, I’ll end up complaining about her, as I’ve been doing for the last half-hour. For instance, did you see the way she sneaked a bite of my pie at dinner? And it was the only dessert we had all day!”
“It’s true,” Sticky said, finishing his book and thumping it closed. “I’ll get tongue-tied, and Kate will get steamed. It has to be you, Reynie.”
And so, a few minutes later, it was Reynie who knocked on the study door.
“Come in, Reynie,” said Mr. Benedict. As before, Reynie found him on the floor, this time with a half-eaten biscuit in one hand, a graph of some kind in the other, and biscuit crumbs on his green suit jacket. “I was just taking a late supper. Would you care for a biscuit? There’s another on my desk, though I’m afraid it’s cold — I was so intent upon my work I forgot to eat until now.”
“No, thank you,” Reynie said. Even if he’d been hungry he couldn’t have eaten a bite — he felt very ill at ease. It didn’t seem quite decent to complain about Constance, nor did he like the thought of expressing doubt in Mr. Benedict, whom he liked very much. But it must be done, and he was preparing himself to begin when Mr. Benedict said, “I assume you’ve come about Constance.”
Reynie swallowed and nodded.
“And that you speak not only for yourself, but for Sticky and Kate as well?”
Perhaps some day, Reynie thought, he would get used to Mr. Benedict’s always knowing what was on his mind.
“I understand completely,” said Mr. Benedict. “And if we had time, I should be happy to explain my choices to you in great detail. But as we do not, allow me to assure you that Constance is far more gifted than she seems, and that it is not from pity, blindness, or rash hopefulness that I include her in this mission. On the contrary, I believe she may be the very key to our success.”
“If that’s true, then I suppose she’s worth the trouble.”
“Sometimes, Reynie, trouble itself is the key.”
“Sir?”
“I daresay you’ll understand me in time. Now, listen, it’s true I have a certain sympathy for Constance. Like her, and like yourself, I grew up an orphan, and I know what it is to feel miserable and alone. However —”
“You’re an orphan?”
“Certainly. My parents were Dutch scientists, killed in a laboratory accident when I was a baby. I was sent to this country to live with my aunt, but she, too, died, and so into an orphanage I went. However, what I intended to say was that while I sympathize with Constance, it is not from sympathy I include her, no more than it is from sympathy I include you or anyone else. Fair enough?”
“I believe so.”
“Very well, then, will you do me a great favor? Will you tell your friends what I’ve said and return to give me their verdict? If anyone should choose not to go on, I had better know at once.”
The sense of urgency was apparent in Mr. Benedict’s tone, and Reynie lost no time hurrying back to relate his answer to Sticky and Kate, who sat cross-legged on the floor, thumb-wrestling to pass the time. They weren’t happy about the news, but neither were they inclined to quit, so Reynie left them to their thumb-wrestling and hurried back to Mr. Benedict’s study. He was about to knock on the door when he heard voices inside. He hesitated, not wanting to interrupt.
“I can’t stand it!” Mr. Benedict was saying. “I can’t
“I know,” came the reply, and Reynie recognized the voice of Number Two. “I know, Mr. Benedict, we all feel that way. But if they don’t go, then it’s over — the curtain falls. You said so yourself. We have no choice. Now please calm yourself before —”
Mr. Benedict said something Reynie could not make out, but it was clearly an expression of anguish, or perhaps fury, and then Number Two was saying, “Oh dear. And with a mouthful of biscuit, too. Wake up, dear Benedict” — there was a patting sound — “wake up, or I fear you may choke.”
After a moment came a snorting noise, then a cough, and then Mr. Benedict said, “Ah. Was I very long gone?”
“Only a moment,” said Number Two gently.
“Good, good. Thank you for your commiserations, my friend, and now you’d best be off, back to your confounded computer. I’m sorry to work you so.”
“I know as well as you that it must be done. Just let me water this violet, for the sake of my conscience, and
