one said. "But there isn't any Civil War going on now. At
least," he added, "I haven't heard of any."

"That's what makes it so funny," Boyd said. "Of course, Senator Burley
said it was ill health, and so did two others, while Senator Davidson
said it was old age."

"Well," Malone said, "people do get old. And sick."

"Sure," Boyd said. "The only trouble is--" He paused. "Ken," he said,
"do you mind if I smoke? I mean, do you mind the smell of cigars?"

"Mind?" Malone said. "Not at all. Not at all." He blinked. "Besides,"
he added, "maybe this one won't smell like a cigar."

"Well, the last one did," Boyd said. He took a cigarette out of a pack
in his pocket, and lit it. He sniffed. "You know," he said, "You're
right. This one doesn't."

"I told you," Malone said. "Must have been a bad cigarette. Spoiled or
something."

"I guess so," Boyd said vaguely. "But about these retirements--the FBI
wanted me to look into it because of Burley's being mixed up with the
space program scandal last year. Remember?

"Vaguely," Malone said. "I was busy last year."

"Sure you were," Boyd said. "We were both busy getting famous and
well-known."

Malone grinned. "Go on with the story," he said.

Boyd puffed at his cigarette. "Anyhow, we couldn't find anything
really wrong," he said. "Three senators retiring because of ill
health, one because of old age. And Farnsworth, the youngest. He had a
nervous breakdown."

"I didn't hear about it," Malone said.

Boyd shrugged. "We hushed it up," he said. "But Farnsworth's got
delusions of persecution. He apparently thinks somebody's out to get
him. As a matter of fact, he thinks _everybody's_ out to get him."

"Now that," Malone said, "sounds familiar."

Boyd leaned back a little more in his chair. "Here's the funny thing,
though," he said. "The others all act as if they're suspicious of
everybody who talks to them. Not anything obvious, you understand.
Just--worried. Apprehensive. Always looking at you out of the corners
of their eyes. That kind of thing."

Malone thought of Senator Lefferts, who was also suffering from
delusions of persecution--delusions that had real evidence to back
them up. "It does sound funny," he said cautiously.

"Well, I reported everything to Burris," Boyd went on. "And he said
you were working on something similar, and we might as well pool our
resources."

"Here we go again," Malone said. He took a deep breath, filling his
nostrils with what rema