that had been passed on to him by Dr. Schwartz and nodded his head approvingly.
'Your health is good, I am glad to see,' he said. 'You have had an aeroplane crash recently, I understand?'
'Yes,' said Hilary. 'I was four or five days in hospital at Casablanca.'
'Four or five days are not enough,' said Dr. Rubec reprovingly. 'You should have been there longer.'
'I didn't want to be there longer. I wanted to get on with my journey.'
'That, of course, is understandable, but it is important with concussion that plenty of rest should be had. You may appear quite well and normal after it but it may have serious effects. Yes, I see your nerve reflexes are not quite what they should be. Partly the excitement of the journey and partly, no doubt, due to concussion. Do you get headaches?'
'Yes. Very bad headaches. And I get muddled up every now and then and can't remember things.'
Hilary felt it well to continually stress this particular point. Dr. Rubec nodded soothingly.
'Yes, yes, yes. But do not trouble yourself. All that will pass. Now we will have a few association tests, so as to decide what type of mentality you are.'
Hilary felt faintly nervous but all appeared to pass off well. The test seemed to be of a merely routine nature. Dr. Rubec made various entries on a long form.
'It is a pleasure,' he said at last, 'to deal with someone (if you will excuse me, Madame, and not to take amiss what I am going to say), to deal with someone who is not in any way a genius!'
Hilary laughed.
'Oh, I'm certainly not a genius,' she said.
'Fortunately for you,' said Dr. Rubec. 'I can assure you your existence will be far more tranquil.' He sighed. 'Here, as you probably understand, I deal mostly with keen intellects, but with the type of sensitive intellect that is apt to become easily unbalanced, and where the emotional stress is strong. The man of science, Madame, is not the cool, calm individual he is made out to be in fiction. In fact,' said Dr. Rubec, thoughtfully, 'between a first-class tennis player, an operatic prima-donna and a nuclear physicist there is really very little difference as far as emotional instability goes.'
'Perhaps you are right,' said Hilary, remembering that she was supposed to have lived for some years in close proximity to scientists. 'Yes, they are rather temperamental sometimes.'
Dr. Rubec threw up a pair of expressive hands.
'You would not believe,' he said, 'the emotions that arise here! The quarrels, the jealousies, the touchiness! We have to take steps to deal with all that. But you, Madame,' he smiled. 'You are in a class that is in a small minority here. A fortunate class, if I may so express myself.'
'I don't quite understand you. What kind of a minority?'
'Wives,' said Dr. Rubec. 'We have not many wives here. Very few are permitted. One finds them, on the whole, refreshingly free from the brainstorms of their husbands and their husbands' colleagues.'
'What do wives do here?' asked Hilary. She added apologetically, 'You see it's all so new to me. I don't understand anything yet.'
'Naturally not. Naturally. That is bound to be the case. There are hobbies, recreations, amusements, instructional courses. A wide field. You will find it, I hope, an agreeable life.'
'As you do?'
It was a question, and rather an audacious one and Hilary wondered a moment or two later whether she had been wise to ask it. But Dr. Rubec merely seemed amused.
'You are quite right, Madame,' he said. 'I find life here peaceful and interesting in the extreme.'
'You don't ever regret – Switzerland?'
'I am not homesick. No. That is partly because, in my case, my home conditions were bad. I had a wife and several children. I was not cut out, Madame, to be a family man. Here conditions are infinitely more pleasant. I have ample opportunity of studying certain aspects of the human mind which interest me and on which I am writing a book. I have no domestic cares, no distractions, no interruptions. It all suits me admirably.'
'And where do I go next?' asked Hilary, as he rose and shook her courteously and formally by the hand.
'Mademoiselle La Roche will take you to the dress department. The result, I am sure -' he bowed '- will be admirable.'
After the severe Robotlike females she had met so far, Hilary was agreeably surprised by Mademoiselle La Roche. Mademoiselle La Roche had been a vendeuse in one of the Paris houses of haute couture and her manner was thrillingly feminine.
'I am delighted, Madame, to make your acquaintance. I hope that I can be of assistance to you. Since you have just arrived and since you are, no doubt, tired, I would suggest that you select now just a few essentials. Tomorrow and indeed during the course of next week, you can examine what we have in stock at your leisure. It is tiresome I always think, to have to select things rapidly. It destroys all the pleasure of la toilette. So I would suggest, if you agree, just a set of underclothing, a dinner dress, and perhaps a tailor.'
'How delightful it sounds,' said Hilary. 'I cannot tell you how odd it feels to own nothing but a toothbrush and a sponge.'
Mademoiselle La Roche laughed cheeringly. She took a few rapid measures and led Hilary into a big apartment with built-in cupboards. There were clothes here of every description, made of good material and excellent cut and in a large variety of sizes. When Hilary had selected the essentials of la toilette, they passed on to the cosmetics department where Hilary made a selection of powders, creams and various other toilet accessories. These were handed to one of the assistants, a native girl with a shining dark face, dressed in spotless white, and she was instructed to see that they were delivered to Hilary's apartment.
All these proceedings had seemed to Hilary more and more like a dream.
'And we shall have the pleasure of seeing you again shortly, I hope,' said Mademoiselle La Roche, gracefully. 'It will be a great pleasure, Madame, to assist you to select from our models. Entre nous my work is sometimes disappointing. These scientific ladies often take very little interest in la toilette. In fact, not half an hour ago I had a fellow traveller of yours.'
'Helga Needheim?'
'Ah yes, that was the name. She is, of course, a Boche, and the Boches are not sympathetic to us. She is not actually bad looking if she took a little care of her figure; if she chose a flattering line she could look very well. But no! She has no interest in clothes. She is a doctor, I understand. A specialist of some kind. Let us hope she takes more interest in her patients than she does in her toilette – Ah, that one, what man will look at her twice?'
Miss Jennsen, the thin, dark, spectacled girl who had met the party on arrival, now entered the fashion salon.
'Have you finished here, Mrs. Betterton?' she asked.
'Yes, thank you,' said Hilary.
'Then perhaps you will come and see the Deputy Director.'
Hilary said 'au revoir' to Mademoiselle La Roche and followed the earnest Miss Jennsen.
'Who is the Deputy Director?' she asked.
'Doctor Nielson.'
Everybody, Hilary reflected, in this place was doctor of something.
'Who exactly is Doctor Nielson?' she asked. 'Medical, scientific, what?'
'Oh, he's not medical, Mrs. Betterton. He's in charge of Administration. All complaints have to go to him. He's the administrative head of the Unit. He always has an interview with everyone when they arrive. After that I don't suppose you'll ever see him again unless something very important should arise.'
'I see,' said Hilary, meekly. She had an amused feeling of having been put severely in her place.
Admission to Dr. Nielson was through two ante-chambers where stenographers were working. She and her guide were finally admitted into the inner sanctum where Dr. Nielson rose from behind a large executive's desk. He was a big florid man with an urbane manner. Of trans-Atlantic origin, Hilary thought, though he had very little American accent.
'Ah!' he said, rising and coming forward to shake Hilary by the hand. 'This is – yes – let me see – yes, Mrs. Betterton. Delighted to welcome you here, Mrs. Betterton. We hope you'll be very happy with us. Sorry to hear of the unfortunate accident during the course of your journey, but I'm glad it was no worse. Yes, you were lucky there. Very lucky indeed. Well, your husband's been awaiting you impatiently and I hope now you've got here you will
