ched the walls for indications of openings which might mean
unexpected defenses such as anesthetic tanks. The only breaks in the
two smooth white plaster surfaces which he could see as he squatted
before the case were a horizontal row of glass bosses on each side at
about the height of his knees.

"Now, since my face," he closed his eyes and flashed a toothy smile,
like a video actor, up at the vizer lens, "is subjected to the daily
care of Taffeta Products," he turned his face down to the case and
gritted his teeth, "I must smear facial muscle softener into the left
half to show the action and appearance of muscles which have lost
their tonus." He whipped the cover off a small ivorine jar and rubbed
his cheek vigorously with a brownish salve. "You will note that this
softener also contains a percentage of grime which lodges in the
pores."

He heard a gasp from the speaker grille when he displayed a face whose
left cheek and brow were sagged, wrinkled and hideously brown
speckled. From somewhere behind the gasp, he heard a continuous tinkle
of tiny bells.

His hands moved among the bottles and jars, raised a round silver box
which he held up. "The delicately perfumed applicator pads for all
applications of Taffeta Preparations are pre-saturated with Firmol
Tone Charger. I dip the pad into this solution of Enhancing Hyssop,"
he did so, "and work it gently into the pores. The results are
instantaneous!" He turned up his original video star appearance.

* * * * *

While bending his body forward to reach the articles strapped to the
top of the case, he noticed that the tone of the distant bells was
raised. Screwing a circular hairbrush to the thread of a collapsible
tube, he sank back on his haunches. The bell tones were lower. He
placed a hand on one of the glass bosses nearest the inner door,
apparently to steady himself. An even lower tone was added to the bell
notes. Obviously electric eyes with a set of bell signals in the old
woman's present location. He smiled down at the floor--to himself.

[Illustration]

"Now I want you to notice closely this object which I will show you."
He held up the brush with the tube screwed on its back and turned it
about. "Do you know what this is?"

There was no answer from the speaker but its own hum and the tinkle of
the bells. "What does it look like?" He spoke rapidly, pleasantly.
There was still no answer.

He rose quickly and tried the kno