What was the change in her, this morning? Ted sensed it, but couldn't
isolate it. And what had motivated it? Being with Henri?
* * * * *
_Peak thought, "I can smell, too, now. Ha, you've brought another
subject up?"_
_"I'm going to have to. That Truesdale is getting conscience attacks.
It seems to be an Earth trait. I've got an awful hot wire on the line,
though. He could materialize us fast."_
_"Well, get him, get him. Or stir up Truesdale. Maybe you could
alienate him from his wife and he'd spend more time here."_
_"I'm doing my best, sir. The situation is--muddled. The wife doesn't
favor me at all."_
_"Watch yourself. Be careful."_
_"That I will."_
_In their glade, Bee outer-thought, "Darling, I can see! Ha didn't
desert us. Sweetheart, Lust is wakening."_
_"I can't see, dearest. Are you going to materialize and not I?
Beloved, if--"_
_"Calm yourself, darling. You_ ARE _materializing. Not the
senses, yet, perhaps, but I can see one leg of yours, one long, slim,
lovely leg. Oh, beloved one--"_
_"This time, we'll be careful. Even if we--what is that word Peak
used?"_
_"Marriage. We'll make it work. This isn't Earth."_
* * * * *
Ted took a warm shower and a cool one. He toweled himself vigorously,
and put on shorts and a tee shirt. After breakfast, he would cut the
lawn and clean out the garage and dig up the tulip bulbs. He'd had
enough of sitting.
He cut the lawn and cleaned out the garage and dug up the tulip beds.
He worked with a devout if subdued fury and was conscious of Ann's
occasional wondering glance from the windows. He finished it all by
ten-thirty.
He put the spade and lawn mower away, and donned a pair of sneakers.
Then he went out into the backyard and looked up into the branches of
the nutmeg tree.
He could see the nest, and it was attainable. He stood staring at it,
trying to summon enough moral decision to take the first step. It would
probably mean no more blonde. It....
Hamilton peered over the edge of his nest and it seemed to Ted he could
almost see the apprehension in those black eyes. Hamilton scrambled out
and came hurrying down, head first.
"Now what?"
"You're evil."
"_I'm_ evil. Projection, huh? You're kind of mixed up, Truesdale. _I_
wasn't with the blonde, last night."
"I'm not ready to believe I was either. But this--this evil can be
mental."
"Your wife's been talking to you. What about her? What about this
Henri?"
"What about him? You're treading on dangerous ground, you bushy-tailed
rat."
"Am I? Henri likes the place. I've been showing it to him. And pointing
out its advantages. No husbands to come home, unexpectedly." Hamilton
paused. "He'll be up there, again. And with _whom_, Truesdale?"
"Not Ann. She's incorruptible, you devil."
"Sure, she is. So what are you worried about?"