"All right," said Fraser. There was no menace in his tones, only a weariness. "If you insist, I'll play it dirty. Such abrupt changes indicate mental instability. But I know she was perfectly sane before. It begins to look as if your experiments may have--injured her mind. If so, I should have to report you for malpractice." Kennedy flushed. "I am a licensed psychiatrist," he said, "and any other doctor will confirm that Miss Harkness is still in mental health. If you tried to get an investigation started, you would only be wasting your own time and that of the authorities. She herself will testify that no harm was done to her; no compulsion applied; and that you are an infernal busybody with some delusions of your own. Good afternoon." "Ah," said Fraser, "so she _was_ here." Kennedy pushed a button. His men entered. "Show this gentleman the way out, please," he said. Fraser debated whether to put up a fight, decided it was futile, and went out between the two others. When he got to the street, he found he was shaking, and badly in need of a drink. * * * * * Fraser asked, "Jim, did you ever read _Trilby_?" Sworsky's round, freckled face lifted to regard him. "Years ago," he answered. "What of it?" "Tell me something. Is it possible--even theoretically possible--to do what Svengali did? Change emotional attitudes, just like that." Fraser snapped his fingers. "I don't know," said Sworsky. "Nuclear cross-sections are more in my line. But offhand, I should imagine it might be done ... sometime in the far future. Thought-habits, associational-patterns, the labeling of this as good and that as bad, seem to be matters of established neural paths. If you could selectively alter the polarization of individual neurones--But it's a pretty remote prospect; we hardly know a thing about the brain today." He studied his friend sympathetically. "I know it's tough to get jilted," he said, "but don't go off your trolley about it." "I could stand it if someone else had gotten her in the usual kind of way," said Fraser thinly. "But this--Look, let me tell you all I've found out." Sworsky shook his head at the end of the story. "That's a mighty wild speculation," he murmured. "I'd forget it if I were you." "Did you know Kennedy's old partner? Gavotti, at Chicago." "Sure, I met him a few times. Nice old guy, very unworldly, completely wrapped up in his work. He got interested in neurology from the physics angle toward the end of his life, and contributed a lot to cybernetics. What of it?" "I don't know," said Fraser; "I just don't know. But do me a favor, will you, Jim? Judy won't see me at all, but she knows you and likes you. Ask her to dinner or something. Insist that she come. Then you and your wife find out--whatever you can. Just exactly how she feels about the whole business. What her attitudes are toward everything."