"I'll bet," he grinned back. "Well, it had better be, for I'm going to take a chance on you. Sooner or later the law will have to admit the existence of Psi. I know as well as you Stigma cases that this gene is dominant--that there'll be more Psis every generation. We've got to find some common ground between the two societies--some way to get along. Give me your personal surety in this Mary Hall thing. As an attorney, you're an officer of the Court, and I guess I have the right to make her your responsibility. I certainly don't want it getting out that I'm playing footsie with an organization of Psis--this is an elective office, after all." "After all," I agreed. "But I am glad to hear you sounding like a politician again." "We'll have to keep our dealings off the record," Passarelli insisted. "But if I thought I could call on you when we get one of these sticky Psi cases before the Courts...." You'd recruit for the Lodge, I thought to myself. "You've got yourself a deal, Your Honor!" I said fervently. "Call it a _modus vivendi_," he smiled. "Now my big problem is to find a way to eat my words, and let the 99th National Bank accept restitution of what Mary Hall stole from them." "No sweat," I grinned, beginning to feel better. "It's already been done." "Done? How could it be? I told the bank not to...." "You told them," I conceded. "But they had no choice, Your Honor. Mary Hall went to the 99th National Bank this morning and asked for change of a five dollar bill." "What!" "And passed to the teller a hundred dollar bill. After all HC works both ways. They've got their money back. By noon they had half a dozen IBM technicians in there trying to figure why they were out of balance!" THE END * * * * * End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Modus Vivendi, by Gordon Randall Garrett