"No one on Earth. Professor Halder, who lives over on that big asteroid the other side of yours, heard of the troubles we had, and came up with the suggestion. At first it seemed absurd--" "It certainly seems absurd to me!" agreed Mrs. Silver. "It was the only thing we could do. There was no one else we could trust." "But what does he know about cakes?" "My dear, he has the most exquisite sense of taste!" "I still don't understand." "It's superhuman. Before we adopted Professor Halder's suggestion, we gave him a few tests. The results simply left us gasping. We could mix all sorts of spices--the most delicate, most exotic herbs from Venus or Mars, and the strongest, coarsest flavors from Earth or one of the plant-growing asteroids--and he could tell us everything we had added, and exactly how much." * * * * * "I find that hard to believe, Matilda." "Isn't it? It's honestly incredible. If I hadn't seen him do it myself, I wouldn't have believed it." "But he doesn't have human preferences. Wasn't he--wasn't he--" "Carnivorous? Oh, yes. They say he was the most vicious creature imaginable. Let an animal come within a mile of him, and he'd scent it and be after it in a flash. He and the others of his kind made the moon he came from uninhabitable for any other kind of intelligent life. Come to think of it, it may have been the very moon we're on now!" "Really?" "Either this, or some other moon of Saturn's. We had to do something about it. We didn't want to kill them off, naturally; that would have been the easiest way, but so uncivilized! Finally, our scientists came up with the suggestion for psychological reforming. Professor Halder told us how difficult it all was, but it seems to have worked. In his case, at least." Mrs. Silver stole another glance. "Did it? I don't notice any one going near him." "Oh, we don't like to tempt fate, Clara. But, if there were really any danger, I'm sure the psychologists would never have let him out of their clutches." "I hope not. But psychologists take the most reckless risks sometimes--with other people's lives!" "Well, there's one psychologist who's risking his own life--and his own wife, too. You know Dr. Cabanis, don't you?" "Only by sight. Isn't his wife that stuck-up thing?" "That's the one. Dr. Cabanis is the man who had actual charge of reforming him. And he's going to be here. His wife is entering a cake." "Don't tell me that she really expects to win!" "She bakes well, my dear. Let's give the she-devil her due. How on Earth an intelligent man like Dr. Cabanis can stand her, I don't know, but, after all, he's the psychologist, not I, and he could probably explain it better than I could." * * * * * Ronar disengaged his attention. So Dr. Cabanis was here. He looked around, but the psychologist was not in sight. He would probably arrive later.