"Well, it just never entered my head it'd be you," he answered. "But I suppose that was the idea, was it? Nowadays you have to be careful going about, I know that. I hope you've come so that I can thank you. Nan's told me what you did. The governor told me, too, come to that, when he gave me my release token. He gave me a letter for you as well: I meant to give it to Nan, but I forgot. It's back in my room now."

"You can give it to Brero later."

Now he set about thanking her in earnest, and that with an articulate warmth and fervor of which she would never have believed him capable. His sincerity went to her heart. Just as in the temple, on that morning of the festival when they had first met, she felt him to be someone like herself, someone whom she understood. Palteshi he might be, but she could tell without asking that he, like herself, had been born in a hut and known what it was to be glad of a lump of black bread. She was really delighted, now, to think that she had helped him; and relieved, too (for of this she had been doubtful before), to feel convinced that he was to be trusted with her secret.

"-And anything I can ever do for you-" he was saying,

when she put a hand on his arm and, again raising her veil, bent forward and kissed his cheek.

"There is: but it's a very big thing, and I don't want you to think as you've got to do it because you're under any obligation to me. It's not a favor, it's a job. It might be dangerous and I'm paying according. There's no one else I can possibly entrust with it, Sednil. If you don't want to take it on, I shall have to leave it."

Now he was once again the old, canny, worldly-wise Sednil.

"You'd better tell me a bit more about it, Maia."

Suddenly a girl flower-seller jumped up onto the step of the jekzha, jolting it and causing the jekzha-man to turn and swear at her.

"Lovely roses, saiyett! Lilies, look, sir, and this purple cresset, real cheap!"

She held up her basket so that the sweet, fresh scents filled the dark interior of the jekzha. Behind her array of blooms she herself looked pinched and tired. Maia slipped a five-meld piece into her hand.

"I'll take this rose. Keep the money, dear. Good-night, now."

The girl was beginning, "Oh, bless you, saiyett-" when the jekzha-man slapped her arm. She rounded on him, cursing, dropped off the step and was gone into the dusky commotion of the Sheldad.

Maia smelt the rose, tapping it pensively against her upper lip.

"Sednil, what would you say if I was to tell you-if I told you that I'm-in love-with a Katrian-an officer in Karnat's army?"

He did not laugh, or say "What?" or even come out with any sort of oath or exclamation. She could see that he believed her at once and took her seriously. For a little while he was silent; and she was silent too, waiting for him to answer her. And answer he did.

"If you said that to me, the first thing I'd ask is 'Where is he now?' "

"I don't know. And that's what it's all about, Sednil."

Slowly, and more than once with a catch in her voice, she told him how King Karnat had received her like a princess at Melvda-Rain; of the supper that evening, and of how Zen-Kurel had come to her house. As she went on to speak of their love and his promises, she began to

weep in good earnest; yet he made no attempt to calm or pacify her, only waiting and listening as she faltered out the end of her tale-Zen-Kurel's disclosure to her of the king's plan, the night-march of the army to the river and her own desperate resolve.

When she had finished he remained silent while she dried her eyes and composed herself. At length he said, "But I don't understand. If you loved this fellow-and you say you still love him-why ever did you risk your life to make sure Karnat's plan failed?"

She was astonished. "Why, Sednil, to save them all; to stop the bloodshed, of course! Dear Lespa, if only you'd seen what I've seen! Listen, and I'll tell you-if I can."

She told him of the night-crossing of the Valderra ford, of the slaughter of the patrol and how she had knelt over the dying Sphelthon. Then, for good measure, she added what the farm-girl Gehta had said to her about her terror of invasion; and lastly she spoke of the Tonildan detachment downstream of Rallur, which the Terekenalt army would have destroyed to a man.

"So if it hadn't 'a been for me, there'd have been another three hundred Tonildan fellows like that poor boy Sphelthon, and Cran only knows how many more besides. You must see that, Sednil, surely?"

"Oh, I can see it all right," said he, "and I admire you as much as anyone in the city. But what d'you suppose he thinks-your Katrian officer chap?"

"What he thinks?"

"Well, people in Terekenalt know what you did, same as people in Bekla. But on top of that, there's one thing your Zen-Kurel will know which no one else knows-that's if he's still alive and if he's had the sense to keep quiet. He knows how you learned about the plan, doesn't he?"

For the first time-for it must be remembered that in addition to her youth and immaturity she had hitherto been entirely land-locked, as it were, in her own memories and dreams of Zen-Kurel, and had never discussed her love with anyone-there began to dawn upon the ingenuous Maia some idea oi what Zen-Kurel must have felt upon hearing how the garrison at Rallur had been warned in time. Like a child to whom an adult points out something serious and unwelcome which till now has lain beyond the restricted field of personal experience, she sensed, vaguely yet dismally, that this was a matter she was not going to

be able to disregard or ignore; and began by trying to do just that.

"I don't reckon he'd be angry-not if I could talk to him, like-explain-tell him the rights of it-how I felt an' that."

"Don't you?"

"I would 'a done just that-told him how I felt-if only there'd been time: I would have! Fact I was starting to, only soon as he heard that trumpet blowing for the muster he was up and off-oh! that was so dreadful, Sednil! When I realized he was going to the fighting-" Her tears began to fall again.

"And you think he'd have listened to you, do you?"

"He loves me. We could have gone away together: we could have gone to his father's in Katria-"

"And him one of the king's personal aides? I thought you had more sense, Maia."

"Are you jealous of him? Is that it?" She knew this was nothing to the purpose, but anything was better than accepting the truth.

"Well, I might be, but that's not the point. What I'm asking is, do you really suppose this fellow feels the same about you-that is, if he's still alive-knowing what he can't help knowing now? 'Cos if I was him I'd want to cut you up into fifty bits, that's what."

As a last resort the Serrelinda fell back on her dignity. "Since you're so keen on what's the point, that's not the point either, U-Sednil. The only point as far as you're concerned is that I happen to want to know where Zen-Kurel is now. That's the job I'm talking about; just that and nothing more. He's an enemy of Bekla, fighting for King Karnat, so I've got to be careful how I go about it, haven't I? No one's to know. I'm offering you four thousand meld to go and find out for me, and that's what I came here to say tonight. Never mind what you think Zen-Kurel thinks: that's none of your business. Do you want the job or not?"

"Four thousand meld?" He was clearly startled.

The jekzha had gone the length of the Sheldad and they had now reached the place, not far from the western clock tower, where it broke up into the narrower streets and lanes of the poorer quarter of the city. The jekzha-man stopped and turned his head.

"Where to now, sir?"

Maia gave him fifteen meld. "Just turn round and go back. You needn't hurry."