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beside, not Sam Wyatt, but Bradley Fitch, and they were—they certainly were—a most beautiful couple.
    â€œâ€”says it’s all right,” Bradley Fitch said, and his face was a little flushed, and it appeared he had begun speaking before he planned. He stopped, and put an arm around Naomi’s perfect shoulders, and drew her closer.
    â€œWant everybody to know,” Bradley Fitch said. “Nay and I—we’re going to get married next week.” He looked around. “Going to steal your girl, cousins,” he said.
    There was a kind of tingle in the air.
    â€œPut her in my pocket,” Fitch said, and the delight was evident in his voice. He did, then, lift her off her feet. She laughed, her perfect arms around his neck.
    It was very young, Pam thought. It was very charming. It was—
    A stocky man in his middle thirties turned suddenly and walked out of the room. He did not dramatize the action. He merely went. A few noticed him, Pam North among them. But, by then, most were drinking to the health and happiness of Naomi Shaw and Bradley Fitch, who had more money than it was easy to think of, a seven-goal handicap in polo and now—and now the “delectable” star of Around the Corner .

2
    Friday, 5:45 P.M. to 8:10 P.M.
    Jerry North, being trained, had given warning, although it was brief. He was bringing Sam Wyatt home with him for a drink. He had said, “Be with you in a minute, Sam,” from which Pam deduced that Wyatt was, politely, absenting himself from Jerry’s private office while Jerry spoke, privately, with his wife. “Needs his hand held,” Jerry said. “Although why he came to me. All right?”
    It was of course all right, although Pam made no promise of dinner to follow drinks. “Lamb chops,” Pam said, putting the matter in a nutshell. Lamb chops, as is known to all, cannot be stretched. Jerry said that they would see, which in domestic shorthand meant that they could go out to dinner, if it came to that, which meant that Martha, who cooked for the Norths, would be left somewhat in mid-air. To the smallest things, Pam told the cats, there are ramifications, and went to the kitchen to inform Martha of this new uncertainty. She returned, and decided to change her dress. The cats accompanied her and sat, two on a bed and one on the dressing table, staring with round blue eyes, as if never before had they seen any action so incomprehensible.
    Just before Pam heard Jerry’s key in the lock, the three cats turned their heads simultaneously toward the hallway which led to the living room, which was where the door was. This meant that they had heard footsteps in the outside hall. But they did not leap from perches and gambol down the hallway, which meant that they had heard alien footsteps, along with those of Jerry, and chose to bide their time. The cat called Gin had been ill, and visited by a veterinarian, so that now any unaccounted-for arrival might presage a hypodermic needle in the rump. To all things, there are ramifications.
    Pam went down the hallway, and went quickly, although she did not gambol. Sam Wyatt’s face seemed to have increased in length. To her greeting he slightly shook his head and said, “’Lo, Pam,” in a tone of gloom. “Man needs a drink,” Jerry said, from behind Sam Wyatt. “And how,” Sam Wyatt said, with a falling inflection. He snapped the thumb and middle finger of his right hand, soundlessly. “Can’t think why I keep doing that,” he said, and looked at the hand with reproach. “Compulsion, probably. Means something, I shouldn’t wonder.” He paused. “Something dire, no doubt,” he added. He looked at Pam and shook his head again.
    â€œIt’s all gone down the drain,” he said.
    â€œI’m terribly sorry,” Pam said. “What?”
    â€œEverything,” Sam said. “Can I have a scotch on the