wn on the wall couch before he spoke.

"Just what I told you, my lord. I expect to prove that my father's mind
has been tampered with--that he is not responsible for the decisions
that have been made in his name--that he is going to lose his position
and his reputation and his career for something that he would never have
done in his right mind--that he has been the duped pawn of someone
else."

The colonel walked over toward the couch and stood over the young man.
"Someone? You keep referring to 'someone.' Ever since you asked me to
help you, you've been mysterious about this someone. Whom do you
suspect?"

Senesin looked up at the colonel for a long moment before he answered.
Then: "I suspect the Emperor himself," he said, half defiantly.

The colonel raised his finely-drawn brows just a fraction of an inch, as
though he hadn't known what the answer would be. "The Emperor? Hannikar
IV? Isn't that a little far-fetched?"

Senesin shook his head vehemently. "Don't you see? Legally, the Emperor
is powerless; the Throne hasn't had any say-so in the Government for
over a century--except to sign state papers and such. But suppose an
Emperor came along who wanted power--power such as the old Emperors used
to have. How would he go about getting it? By controlling the
Government! He could slowly force them to give him back the powers that
the people of the Empire have taken so many centuries to obtain."

The colonel shook his head. "Impossible. Not even the Emperor could
control the votes of the whole File for that purpose. It simply couldn't
be done."

"Not that way; of course not," the young man said irritably. "But there
_is_ a way. It's been used before. Are you up on your history?"

"Reasonably well," the colonel said dryly.

"How did Julius Caesar get dictatorial powers? And, after him, Augustus?
Rome was threatened by war, and then actually engaged in it, and the
patricians were glad to give power to a strong man."

"That was in a state ruled by the few patricians," the colonel pointed
out, "not in a democracy."

"Very well, then; what about the United States, during World War II?
Look at the extraordinary powers granted to the President--first to stop
a depression, then to win a war. What might have happened if he hadn't
died? Would he have gone on to a fifth and a sixth term? How much more
power could he have usurped from the hands of Congress?"

The colonel wondered vaguely what history texts young Senes