"And as I was saying, dear," Mrs. Appleby-Simpkin said, pulling the microphone back with equal firmness, "I know that you will be just unbearably thrilled." There was another brief struggle for the mike and Mrs. Appleby-Simpkin won and went on. "I know that he will be just as proud of you as you are of him. That is why we have arranged for Professor MacCulloch to demonstrate his historical Reintegrator at our convention by bringing into our midst Colonel Peter Johns, the hero of the action at Temple Farm, to see his great-great-great-great-granddaughter installed as the fifty-fourth president of the Loyal Order of Patriot Daughters of America. Now I...." Mrs. Johns-Hayes again won control of the mike. "Thank you very much, dear." Her voice was a genteel screech. "I'm sure that we will be only too glad to have the ... who? Who did you say?" Mrs. Appleby-Simpkin regained the microphone from the other woman's relaxing grip. "I believe I see Mr. Decker, the Professor's assistant, in the audience," she said. "Will you be so good as to tell the Professor that we are ready for his epic-making experiment?" With a great feeling of relief, Decker escaped from the rising turmoil of the convention hall into the relative quiet of the anteroom where MacCulloch waited with the Reintegrator. He found the Professor sitting with his head in his hands staring at the machine. The little man looked up and smiled quizzically as his assistant approached him. "They're ready, Professor! They're ready!" Still under the influence of the convention, Decker found himself shouting. "Ah. Ah, yes. Then it will be today. I've waited so long. Ten years of work and now instead of a scientific gathering, I have to demonstrate my machine before a woman's club." * * * * * Decker began to wheel the platform which held the Reintegrator toward the door. "After today, Professor, all the scientific organizations in the world will have heard of you and will be demanding demonstrations." "Yes, but these Patriot Daughters! Who are they? Who in the scientific world ever heard of them?" "No one except a few scientists unfortunate enough to fall afoul of their Loyalty and Conformity Committee." "I think we should have gone elsewhere for our demonstration." "Now Professor. Who in the world today would be interested in the past except a group of ancestor conscious women?" "Some historical society perhaps," the Professor said wistfully. "And what historical society could have advanced the twenty thousand dollars we needed to complete the machine?" "I suppose you're right, my boy," MacCulloch sighed as he helped push the Reintegrator onto the auditorium floor. By the time Clark Decker reached the platform to explain the demonstration, the fight for the microphone had turned into a three-way struggle. A lady who represented the Finance Committee was trying to win it away from both the Past President and the new President.