She smiled graciously at him, and answered Lady Barbara only by a slight lift of her regal eyebrow. Malone had been thinking about something else. When he was sure he had a firm grip on himself he turned. "Your Majesty, tell me something," he said. "You can read my mind, right?" "Well, of course, Sir Kenneth," Her Majesty said. "I thought I'd proved that to you. And, as for what you're about to ask--" "No," Malone said. "Please. Let me ask the questions before you answer them. It's less confusing that way. I'll cheerfully admit that it shouldn't be--but it is. Please?" "Certainly, Sir Kenneth, if you wish," the Queen said. She folded her hands in her lap and waited quietly. * * * * * "O.K.," Malone said. "Now, if you can read my mind, then you must know that I don't _really_ believe that you are Queen Elizabeth of England. The First, I mean." "Mr. Malone," Barbara Wilson said suddenly. "I--" "It's all right, child," the Queen said. "He doesn't disturb me. And I do wish you'd call him Sir Kenneth. That's his title, you know." "Now that's what I mean," Malone said. "Why do you want us to _act_ as if we believe you, when you know we don't?" "Because that's the way people do act," the Queen said calmly. "Very few people really believe that their so-called superiors _are_ superior. Almost none of them do, in fact." "Now wait a minute," Boyd began. "No, no, it's quite true," the Queen said, "and, unpleasant as it may be, we must learn to face the truth. That's the path of sanity." Lady Barbara made a strangled noise but Her Majesty continued, unruffled. "Nearly everybody suffers from the silly delusion that he's possibly equal to, but very probably superior to, everybody else ... my goodness, where would we be if that were true?" Malone felt that a comment was called for, and he made one. "Who knows?" he said. "All the things people do toward their superiors," the Queen said, "are done for social reasons. For instance, Sir Kenneth: you don't realize fully how you feel about Mr. Burris." "He's a nice guy," Malone said. "I work for him. He's a good Director of the FBI." "Of course," the Queen said. "But you believe you could do the job just as well, or perhaps a little better." "I do not," Malone said angrily. Her Majesty reserved a dignified silence. After a while Malone said: "And what if I do?" "Why, nothing," Her Majesty said. "You don't think Mr. Burris is any smarter or better than you are--but you treat him as if you did. All I am insisting on is the same treatment." "But if we don't believe--" Boyd began. "Bless you," Her Majesty said, "I can't help the way you _think_, but, as Queen, I do have some control over the way you _act_." Malone thought it over. "You have a point there," he said at last. Barbara said: "But--"