"'I'm fine,' he said in a flat voice. "'Herman,' I said, 'your robot!' "'Oh, yes,' he answered. 'Herman's fine. He can do just about everything now.' "'Well in that case it's up to you to invent a mate for him,' I said. "He grinned in a sickly way and started to back into the house. "'Hold on,' I cried. 'What's all this about your going to Nevada?' "'We're leaving next week,' he said. 'Change of air--change of scene.' "'Are you taking Herman?' I asked. "'Certainly. It's for his benefit.' "'Oh, I see. He's still not quite perfect?' "He shook his head and echoed, 'Not quite perfect!' in a voice as flat as that of his robot. "'Are you going to perfect him?' I asked. "'Would you?' he asked. "'Sure,' I said. 'I'd make him better and better.' "'Beyond one point you couldn't go,' he said. "'And what's that?' "'You couldn't give him a soul--unless you could slip him your own,' he said. * * * * * "This time he did back well into the house. I stuck my foot into the doorway so that he couldn't close the door. At the same time I got a glimpse past him. His front door opened directly into his main room, his living room, and I could see that someone was standing there waiting for him--a tallish fellow with one arm folded across his chest and supporting his elbow, one hand cupping his chin. He seemed impatient but of course I couldn't see that clearly. "If it hadn't been so absurdly impossible I'd have sworn the fellow was Herman. But of course it was undoubtedly Maugham's new assistant. For once the local gadabouts had the story straight." "And did he move?" I asked. "Oh yes. He went on schedule--_with_ his assistant. I don't know what became of Herman in the exodus. Presumably he moved with them because he turned up in Nevada with Maugham. But I saw no sign of him when I watched Maugham from a distance boarding the train. I suppose Herman could have been taken apart and shipped on ahead. Then he could have been reassembled and set to working again." "But how do you know Herman went along to Nevada?" I asked, pouring Harrigan yet another drink. "By one of those ridiculous mistakes the newspapers sometimes make. Maugham hadn't been out west two months before a flash flood tore through the village in which he'd set up housekeeping and inventing. Maugham was one of the victims. The paper nearest there carried a picture of Maugham and his robot, which by that time was public property out there. "But by one of those odd accidents of the press the names under the pictures had been transposed--under Herman's picture appeared Maugham's name, and under Maugham's Herman's. And to carry the mistake to the epitome of the ludicrous I'm damned if Maugham didn't look exactly like a robot and Herman just like a man!"