ht, knee-length frock she'd copied from the New Girl.

But the three Soldiers weren't paying attention. The Roman--I remembered
his name was Mark--was blundering forward stiffly as if there were
something wrong with his eyes, while Erich and the New Boy were yelling
at each other about a kid and Einstein and a summer palace and a bloody
glove and the Snakes having booby-trapped Saint Petersburg. Erich had
that taut sadistic smile he gets when he wants to hit me.

The New Boy was in a tearing rage. "Why'd you pull us out so bloody
fast? We fair chewed the Nevsky Prospekt to pieces galloping away."

"Didn't you feel their stun guns, _Dummkopf_, when they sprung the
trap--too soon, _Gott sei Dank_?" Erich demanded.

"I did," the New Boy told him. "Not enough to numb a cat. Why didn't you
show us action?"

"Shut up. I'm your leader. I'll show you action enough."

"You won't. You're a filthy Nazi coward."

"_Weibischer Englaender!_"

"Bloody Hun!"

"_Schlange!_"

The blond lad knew enough German to understand that last crack. He threw
back his sable-edged pelisse to clear his sword arm and he swung away
from Erich, which bumped him into Beau. At the first sign of the
quarrel, Beau had raised himself from the divan as quickly and silently
as a--no, I won't use that word--and slithered over to them.

"Sirs, you forget yourselves," he said sharply, off balance, supporting
himself on the New Boy's upraised arm. "This is Sidney Lessingham's
Place of Entertainment and Recuperation. There are ladies--"

* * * * *

With a contemptuous snarl, the New Boy shoved him off and snatched with
his bare hand for his saber. Beau reeled against the divan, it caught
him in the shins and he fell toward the Maintainers. Sid whisked them
out of the way as if they were a couple of beach radios--simply nothing
in the Place is nailed down--and had them back on the coffee table
before Beau hit the floor. Meanwhile, Erich had his saber out and had
parried the New Boy's first wild slash and lunged in return, and I heard
the scream of steel and the rutch of his boot on the diamond-studded
pavement.

* * * * *

Beau rolled over and came up pulling from the ruffles of his shirt bosom
a derringer I knew was some other weapon in disguise--a stun gun or even
an Atropos. Besides scaring me damp for Erich and everybody, that
brought me up short: us Entertainers' nerves must be getti