hole reason for Andrew's assigning
you to this type of case._

"My God," Malone said softly.

Sir Lewis laid down his pipe in a handy ashtray. "Of course," he said,
"you will find it difficult to pick up anyone but Lou, at first. The
rapport between you two is really quite strong."

"Very strong indeed," Lou murmured. Malone found himself beginning to
blush.

"It will be some time yet," Sir Lewis went on, "before you can really
call yourself a telepath, my boy."

"I'll bet it will," Malone said. "Before I can call myself a telepath
I'm going to have to get thoroughly used to the idea. And that's going
to take a long, long time indeed."

"You only think that," Sir Lewis said. "Actually, you're used to the
idea now. That was Andrew's big job."

"His big job?" Malone said. "Now, wait a minute--"

"You don't think I picked you for our first psionics case out of thin
air, do you?" Burris said. "Before anything else, you had to be forced
to accept the fact that such things as telepaths really existed."

"Oh, they do," Malone said. "They certainly do."

"There's me, for instance," Burris said. "But you had to be convinced.
So I ordered you to go out and find one."

"Like the Bluebird of Happiness," Malone said.

Burris frowned. "What's like the Bluebird of Happiness?" he said.

"You are," Malone said.

"I am not," Burris said indignantly. "Bluebirds eat worms. My God,
Malone."

"But the Bluebird," Malone said doggedly, "was right at home all the
time, while everyone searched for it far away. And I had to go far
away to find a telepath, when you were the one who ordered me to do
it."

"Right," Burris said. "So you went and found Her Majesty. And, when
you did find her, she forced acceptance on you simply by being Her
Majesty and proving to you, once and for all, that she could read
minds."

"Great," Malone said. "Of course, I could have got myself killed
taking these lessons--"

"We were watching you," Burris said. "If anything had happened, we'd
have been right on the spot."

"In time to bury the body," Malone said. "I think that's very
thoughtful of you."

"We would have arrived in time to save you," Burris said. "Don't
quibble. You're alive, aren't you?"

"Well," Malone said slowly, "if you're not sure, I don't know how I
can convince you."

"There," Burris said triumphantly. "You see?"

Malone sighed wearily. "Okay," he said. "So you sent me out to find a
telepath and to prove to me that the