* * * * * Marc's hand went automatically to the inner pocket of his jacket where he had secured the notebook. He nodded. "Oh, yes," he murmured. "Good. Then suppose we go to one of the...." "I'd like to go home first, if I may," Marc broke in. "I have to see my wife before she leaves. It's very important. And there are a few extra notes in my room at the house. I could get them all together...." The man hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded. "All right," he said. "After all we're the only ones who know about this. Only let me caution you not to talk to anyone." "I won't say a word," Marc said, and nodded toward Toffee. "She couldn't say anything; she doesn't understand any of it." "Fine," the man said. "Then will it be all right if we come to your house this evening?" "That'll be fine," Marc said quickly, anxious to be free of them. "I'll see you then." Marc and Toffee watched the two men disappear down the corridor and up a stairway. "Terribly morbid pair, aren't they?" Toffee said. "It's enough to make your flesh crawl, all this talk about wiping out cities and people and things." "It's their business," Marc said. Toffee glanced behind her. "I don't like to mention it," she said in an undertone, "but there are a pair of perfectly loathsome little men back there, and I think they're following us. For my money they look exactly like spies. They seem to skulk, if you know what I mean." "I know what you mean," Marc said. "I saw them in the courtroom. Probably they're perfectly harmless. Anyone who looked like that would have to be. Anyway, I haven't time to worry about any skulking; I've got to get home. Let's get out of here." "Am I going with you?" Toffee asked. Marc nodded. "I've decided it's the best way. We'll just sit down and tell Julie all about you." "She'll never believe it," Toffee said. "If she does, she's a lot crazier than I think she is." "She'll have to believe it," Marc said earnestly. "If worst comes to worst, I'll knock myself out and she can see you vanish and reappear for herself." "We could ask the neighbors in too," Toffee observed wryly. "We could serve punch and do it as a sort of parlor entertainment." "Don't be silly," Marc said. "Come on." "I'm game," Toffee murmured. "I just wonder if Julie's up to it, that's all." "Maybe I should call her first," Marc said, catching sight of a row of phone booths at the end of the corridor. "Just to make sure she's there." "You might check on the condition of her heart, too," Toffee said. "Just as a precaution." They started forward and had nearly reached the booths when Marc suddenly stopped short. "Now what?" Toffee asked. Marc inclined his head to listen. "Do you keep hearing footsteps?" he asked. "Sure," Toffee said. "All over the place. With these marble floors...." "No, not those," Marc said. "Right behind us. I keep hearing someone walking right behind me, but there's no one there."