, of course....
Mistress Mary, had you never seen this cage before?"

"No."

"Nor anything like it? Was anything like that known to your Time?"

"No. Oh, I cannot truly say that. Some people believe in phantoms,
omens and witchcraft. There was in Salem, in the Massachusetts Colony,
not so many years ago--"

"I don't mean that. I mean Time-traveling."

"There were soothsayers and fortune-tellers, and necromancers with
crystals to gaze into the future."

"We still have them," Alten smiled. "You see, we don't know much more
than you do about this thing."

I said, "Did you have any enemy? Anyone who wished you harm?"

She thought a moment. "No--yes, there was one." She shuddered at the
memory. "A man--a cripple--a horribly repulsive man of about one score
and ten years. He lives down near the Battery." She paused.

"Tell us about him," Larry urged.

She nodded. "But what could he have to do with this? He is horribly
deformed. Thin, bent legs, a body like a cask and a bulging forehead
with goggling eyes. My Lord Howe's officers say he is very intelligent
and very learned. Loyal to the King, too. There was a munitions plot
in the Bermudas, and this cripple and Lord Howe were concerned in it.
But Father likes the fellow and says that in reality he wishes our
cause well. He is rich.

"But you don't want to hear all this. He--he made love to me, and I
repulsed him. There was a scene with Father, and Father had our
lackeys throw him out. That was a year ago. He cursed horribly. He
vowed then that some day he--he would have me; and get revenge on
Father. But he has kept away. I have not seen him for a twelvemonth."

* * * * *

We were silent. I chanced to glance at Alten, and a strange look was
on his face.

He said abruptly, "What is this cripple's name, Mistress Mary?"

"Tugh. He is known to all the city as Tugh. Just that. I never heard
any Christian name."

Alten rose sharply to his feet. "A cripple named Tugh?"

"Yes," she affirmed wonderingly. "Does it mean anything to you?"

Alten swung on me. "What is the number of that house on Patton Place?
Did you happen to notice?"

I had, and wondering I told him.

"Just a minute," he said. "I want to use the phone."

He came back to us in a moment: his face was very solemn. "That house
on Patton Place is owned by a man named Tugh! I just called a reporter
friend; he remembers a certain case: he confirmed what I thought.
Mistr