He remembered Kay's odd accent. Was that the way a person would speak English if her own language ran something like "_ist ifedereret, hid jestig snoll doper adwo_?" He remembered the way she had looked at him in the coffee bar. He remembered the material of her dress. He remembered how she had come to his room. "I didn't know you had a taste for Taine." * * * * * Her voice seemed to come from far away, but she was standing right beside him, tall and bewitching; Helenesque as ever. Her blue eyes became great wells into which he found himself falling. With an effort, he pulled himself back. "You're early tonight," he said lamely. She appropriated the message, read it. "Put the book back," she said presently. Then, when he complied: "Come on." "Where are we going?" "I'm going to deliver a _snoll doper_ to Jilka. After that I'm going to take you home to meet my folks." The relieved sigh he heard was his own. They climbed into her convertible and she nosed it into the moving line of cars. "How long have you been reading my mail?" she asked. "Since the night before I met you." "Was that the reason you spilled the sugar?" "Part of the reason," he said. "What's a _snoll doper_?" She laughed. "I don't think I'd better tell you just yet." He sighed again. "But if Jilka wanted a _snoll doper_," he said after a while, "why in the world didn't she call you up and say so?" "Regulations." She pulled over to the curb in front of a brick apartment building. "This is where Jilka lives. I'll explain when I get back." He watched her get out, walk up the walk to the entrance and let herself in. He leaned his head back on the seat, lit a cigarette and exhaled a mixture of smoke and relief. On the way to meet her folks. So it was just an ordinary secret society after all. And here he'd been thinking that she was the key figure in a Martian plot to blow up Earth-- Her _folks_! Abruptly the full implication of the words got through to him, and he sat bolt-up-right on the seat. He was starting to climb out of the car when he saw Kay coming down the walk. Anyway, running away wouldn't solve his problem. A complete disappearing act was in order, and a complete disappearing act would take time. Meanwhile he would play along with her. * * * * * A station wagon came up behind them, slowed, and matched its speed with theirs. "Someone's following us," Quidley said. "Probably Jilka." Five minutes later the station wagon turned down a side street and disappeared. "She's no longer with us," Quidley said. "She's got to pick someone up. She'll meet us later." "At your folks'?" "At the ship." The city was thinning out around them now, and a few stars were visible in the night sky. Quidley watched them thoughtfully for a while. Then: "What ship?" he said. "The one we're going to _Fieu Dayol_ on." "_Fieu Dayol?_"