must understand, however, we have had expenses, a long journey, that prices in Ar are high, particularly for decent food and rented lodging, that we have needed money for bribes, for example, to obtain information, and such, that we have given some away, and so on. I have put half of those, forty-five pieces of gold in the purse. They are yours.'
'I do not understand,' said Boots.
'I have kept the other forty-five,' I said, 'because I may need them, tomorrow. I do not know.'
'That is too much money,' said Boots.
'Do not be concerned for us,' I said. 'We have other moneys, as well, from donations received, so to speak, from a fellow, or so here and there, usually met in remote areas in dark places, and from fees taken in service.'
'We agreed on two pieces of gold,' said Boots, 'at most.'
'So we now break our agreement,' I said.
'You would do that?' he asked.
'We might,' I said.
'Scoundrels,' he said.
'Simply suppose that we are mad,' said Marcus. 'Just take them, and with them, our undying gratitude, and that of Ar's Station.'
'I cannot take so much,' said Boots.
'You are Boots Tarsk-Bit?' I asked.
'I think so,' he said. 'At least that is what I have suspected for years.'
'Then take the money,' I said.
'Give me a moment,' he said. 'Let me collect myself. Let me recall myself to myself. I did not expect this. Give me time. My greed has been taken unawares. It staggers. It reels. Such generosity would give pause to even the most robust avarice.'
'We obtained the money with little effort,' I said. 'It is not as though a village of peasants had hoed suls for it, for a century, or anything.'
'I am relieved to hear it,' said Boots. 'I had been much concerned with that.'
'Indeed,' I said, 'it is, in a sense, purloined treachery money, from traitors in Ar.'
'It is my duty to accept it?' asked Boots.
'Certainly your right,' I said.
'Perhaps I might be persuaded to accept it,' he said, 'for the arts.'
'Be persuaded then,' I said, 'for the arts.'
'Done!' said he.
'Excellent,' I said.
'The arts and I thank you,' he said.
'You are welcome,' I said, 'all of you.'
We clasped hands.
'I can double this overnight at the gaming tables,' he said.
'But do not do so until after delivering the Home Stone to Port Cos,' I said. He looked at me, stricken.
'Yes,' I said, sternly.
'Very well,' he said.
We then again clasped hands. In a moment Boots had hurried off.
'The Home Stone must reach Port Cos,' said Marcus.
'You can help to assure it,' I said. 'You will travel with them, as I once did, as a roustabout, leaving tomorrow evening.'
'I am pleased,' said Marcus, 'that we managed to persuade him to accept the money.'
'It was difficult,' I said. 'But we won out.'
'Largely,' said Marcus, 'it was due to your persuasive powers.'
'Come now,' I said. 'You were quite persuasive yourself.'
'Do you think so?' he asked.
'Certainly,' I said.
'I was afraid for a time he would refuse to accept the fortune we urged upon him.'
'Yes,' I agreed. 'It was nip and tuck for a time.'
'But that business about the arts,' said Marcus. 'That is what did it.'
'Yes,' I said. 'That is his weak spot.'
'What now?' he asked.
'I must arrange for a message to be delivered to Appanius,' I said, 'tomorrow morning.'
24 Staffs and Chains
'You understand what to do?' I asked her.
'Yes, Master,' said Lavinia, kneeling beside me. She trembled, slightly. I looked down at her. She was now in a short cloak, held about her neck, and, under it, in a tiny, loose, beltless rep-cloth tunic, fastened only at the left shoulder. The cloak, held as it was, concealed her collar. She was now in the collar that read 'RETURN ME TO TARL, AT THE INSULA OF TORBON.' She was thus now well identified as my slave. The tunic's fastening at her left shoulder was a disrobing loop. That was important. I wished her to be able to disrobe on an instant's notice.
'The timing of these events is extremely important,' I said.
'Yes, Master, she whispered.
'If you do not do well,' I said, 'I will have you fed to sleen.'
She looked at me, white-faced.
'I will,' I said.
'I will do my best, Master,' she said.
I had made certain, in my rehearsals, that she could remove both cloak and tunic expeditiously.
Marcus, sitting to one side, sharpening his sword, lifted his head.
'That is the fifth Ahn,' he said.
I nodded. We could hear the bars, even at a distance of over a pasang.
We were in a room in the Metellan district. I had sealed the shutters, and blocked them, on the inside, so that no one might, from the outside, through the cracks, observe what occurred in the room. In the center of the room there was a large couch, a round couch, some seven or eight feet in diameter. It was well cushioned, and covered with furs, and was soft and inviting. At one point, in its sides, there was a slave ring. We had set a small table near the couch, bearing a decanter of wine, with glasses, and a small, tasteful array of sweets. The room was lit with a small tharlarion-oil lamp. I had already tested the apparatus in the adjoining room. It was activated by a simple wooden lever, and the weights would do the rest. I had also brought along some other articles, which I thought might prove useful.
'You informed the slave,' I said to Lavinia, 'that the plan had been advanced, and that he was now to be here at half past the fifth Ahn?'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'He thinks that is the new time of the assignation?'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'And he has not had time to convey this information to his master, as far as you know.'
'I should not think so, Master,' she said.
'He will then presumably regard it as his work to keep the free woman, whoever she turns out to be, here until Appanius and the magistrates arrive.'
'I would think so, Master,' she said.
'Which arrival, as he understands it, will be in the neighborhood of a half past the sixth Ahn?'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'Good,' I said. The original time of the assignation, conveyed to the slave, which he, in turn, would have
