The girl shook her head. "No," she said, "I'm afraid that she left some time ago. You must be one of our men, aren't you?" "Yes," said Kevan. "Kevan MacGreene's the name. You can be telling his nibs I'm back." The more he looked at the girl the more he thought he'd recover from the disappointment of not seeing Kathleen. "And what's your name?" "Colleen Dannan." "A pretty name to go with a pretty lass," Kevan said. "Is his nibs in?" "Yes, Mr. Shanachie is in," the girl said. "He asked me to give you your salary check if you came in this way." She held up a pink oblong of paper. "Salary, then, is it?" said Kevan, reaching for it. "It must be that he remembered I said that I was broke. You know I never did learn what this job pays." "I believe the pay for agents is ten dollars a week," said Colleen. "Ten dollars a week?" said Kevan, feeling the rage grow in him. "Why, of all the doublecrossing, thieving--" He broke off and gulped. He'd just looked at the check and saw the figure that was written on it. _Pay to the order of Kevan MacGreene $468,000.00._ "There must be some mistake," he said in a weak voice. "This check is for almost a half a million dollars." "No mistake," the dark-haired girl said with a smile. "You were working in the land of the Little People, weren't you?" Kevan nodded. "And you were there for a whole night?" Kevan nodded again. "Then there's no mistake," the girl said. "One night in the land of the Little People is the same as nine hundred years here. This is the year 2852 and that represents your back pay." For a moment, the room spun about Kevan MacGreene's head. He gripped the desk hard and hung on and after a moment he could see a pair of emerald green eyes clearly. They looked friendly--and soothing. "Colleen Dannan," he said, "would you have dinner with me and explain all of this again while you're holding my hand to protect me from the shock?" "He's waiting for you," the girl said, indicating the door. "Ask me when you come back. If I'm still here, I will." Kevan MacGreene took two steps toward the door and then came back, shaking his head. "No," he said firmly. "If I've been working nine hundred years then I'm entitled to a night off. And I lost one girl by walking through that door. I'm taking no chances on this one. Come with me, Colleen--you're going to dinner." And that is how Colleen Dannan, a descendent of Macha De Dannan herself, came to have dinner with Kevan MacGreene, but one generation and nine hundred years removed from the County Ulster.