Kelly began to chuckle. "You said the same damn thing the night you were elected Governor. Remember, when you started telling me about how you were going to turn the whole State machine upside-down? I warned you, and I warn you again, but you don't learn. The only thing that got turned upside-down was you." "So I'm a fool. But at least I'm a _dedicated_ fool." "That's the worst kind," Kelly drawled amiably. As Harker started to leave the older man's office Kelly added, "Good luck, anyway, on whatever you're getting your fool feet tangled up in." "Thanks, Bill. Sorry I have to be so tight-mouthed." On his way back to his office he passed the reception-desk; Joan looked up at him and said, "Oh, Mr. Harker--call just came in for you. Mr. Jonathan Bryant's on the phone. He's waiting." "Switch it into my office," Harker told her. His brows contracted. _Jonathan? What does that particular vulture want?_ Harker cut round the desks in the outer office and let himself into his sanctum. He activated the phone. There was the usual three-second circuit-lag, and then the gray haze of electronic "noise" gave way to the fishbelly face of Jonathan Bryant. "Hello, Harker," he said abruptly. "Just thought I'd call you up to let you know that I've obtained a stay of the hearing on my father's will. It's being pushed up from the 16th to the 23rd." Harker scowled. "I don't have any official notice of that fact yet." "It's on its way via court messenger. Just thought I'd let you know about it." "Go ahead," Harker said. "Gloat all you want, if it gives you pleasure. Your father's will is unbreakable, and you know it damn well. All this stalling--" "Legal delay," Jonathan corrected. "All this stalling is just a waste of everybody's time. Sure, I know you're hoping the old man will die before the hearing, but I assure you that can't influence the outcome. If you're that anxious to collect, stop obtaining postponements and just pull the old man's feeding-plugs out. It'll save a lot of heartache for all of us, him included." "Harker, you lousy politico, you should have been debarred twenty years ago." "The word you want to use is _disbarred_," Harker said coldly. "Suppose you get off my line and stop bothering me now? I'd call you a filthy jackal except that I'm too busy for slander suits just now, even suits that I'd win." Angrily he snapped off contact and the screen blanked. _Nuisance_, he thought, referring both to Jonathan and to the postponement of the hearing. He didn't seriously believe that the Bryant heirs were going to upset the old man's will, and the quicker he got the case off his personal docket the faster he would be free for full-time work on the Beller Labs account. * * * * * He took a doodlepad from his desk and scrawled three names on it: _Winstead._ _Thurman._ _Msgnr. Carteret._