And did Ashmole-Brown then refuse to divulge the theme of his labors? Far from it. He liked nothing better. Jovially, he would seat the inquirer (and at first there had been a succession of these, some of them officially propelled) on his single extra chair—depositing the displaced pile of books onto the floor—and explain by the hour. He would show references to illustrate points, or drag out, from under a teetering stack, some document or article he had found invaluable. It all seemed to hang together at the time—the visitor would find himself murmuring, “Most interesting” and even “Fascinating”—but no one had yet emerged from such an interview with a coherent tale to tell. Ashmole-Brown’s presence became a public confession of failure—a living expression of what his colleagues in Social and Anthropological Questions called the inability to communicate. Was he not using up official time and space? Was his rounded back in its antiquated tweeds not turned to two potentially useful windows? Might not the fluorescent light that shone down on him have shone more profitably on another? The Social and Anthropological Department, as a group, had experienced a meaningful, rewarding, and fully integrated sense of release when Ashmole-Brown was shunted off to DALTO.

One thing, however, had been overlooked. Ashmole-Brown’s contract—his famous contract—contained a renewal clause. The contract in its present form had but short time to run, and the question of its renewal was presently brought to Mr. Pylos’s attention by Miss Sadie Graine.

Pylos was busy with affairs of the less technically oriented when Miss Graine came in with Ashmole-Brown’s file. He waited for her to lay the papers on his In-tray and depart, but when she stood expectantly by the desk he knew that it was some matter to which she attached importance. Raising his head—not without some intrepid show of irritation—he invited, and received, the history of Ashmole-Brown. Miss Graine was at this time becoming more vocal, and she left no doubt as to the correct course to be followed. She would not, she explained, have bothered Pylos with the case had it not been for the rank of Ashmole-Brown. This—as Pylos saw from the cover of the file—though temporary, was substantial.

Alone again, Pylos laid aside the less technical and examined the dossier.