at the Medical Center was rather quiet. I went in the
service entrance, so to speak, and didn't get a look at the enamelled
blonde at the front portal. They whiffed me in at a broad gate that was
opened by a flunky and we drove for another mile through the grounds far
from the main road. We ended up in front of a small brick building and
as we went through the front office into a private place, Thorndyke told
a secretary that she should prepare a legal receipt for my person. I did
not like being bandied about like a hunk of merchandise, but nobody
seemed to care what I thought. It was all very fast and efficient. I'd
barely seated myself and lit a cigarette when the nurse came in with the
document which Thorndyke signed, she witnessed, and was subsequently
handed to Officer Gruenwald.

"Is there any danger of me--er--contracting--" he faltered uncertainly
to Dr. Thorndyke.

"You'll notice that--" I started to call attention to Thorndyke's
calmness at being in my presence and was going to invite Gruenwald to
take a dig at the doctor's hide, but once more the doctor blocked me.

"None of us have ever found any factor of contagion," he said. "And we
live among Mekstrom Cases. You'll notice Miss Clifton's lack of
concern."

Miss Clifton, the nurse, turned a calm face to the policeman and gave
him her hand. Miss Clifton had a face and a figure that was enough to
make a man forget anything. She knew her part very well; together, the
nurse and the policeman left the office together and I wondered just why
a non-Mekstrom would have anything to do with an outfit like this.

Thorndyke smiled and said, "I won't tell you, Steve. What you don't know
won't hurt anybody."

"Mind telling me what I'm slated for? The high jump? Going to watch me
writhing in pain as my infection climbs toward my vitals? Going to
amputate? Or are you going to cut it off inch by inch and watch me
suffer?"

"Steve, some things you know already. One, that you are a carrier. There
have been no other carriers. We'd like to know what makes you a
carrier."

#The laboratory again?# I thought.

He nodded. "Also whether your final contraction of Mekstrom's Disease
removes the carrier-factor."

I said hopefully, "I suppose as a Mekstrom I'll eventually be qualified
to join you?"

Thorndyke looked blank. "Perhaps," he said flatly.

To my mind, that flat _perhaps_ was the same sort of reply that Mother
used to hand me when I wanted something that she d