“You’ve got more to say than you think,” said Terwilliger, watching the door as intently as Virtue had been doing a moment earlier. He signaled to the waiter. “Has this place got another room?”

“Another room, sir?”

“One that can’t be seen from the street,” explained Terwilliger.

“We don’t open it until dinnertime,” said the waiter.

Terwilliger waved a one-hundred-credit note in front of him. “Open it now,” he said. “And close it as soon as we’re seated.”

The waiter took the note with no sign of embarrassment and led them through a doorway into a smaller room which possessed only six lace-covered tables.

“Take money for two beers out of that and keep the rest,” said the little gambler when he and Virtue had been seated.

The waiter arched a supercilious eyebrow and left the room.

“What the hell are you doing here?” demanded Virtue when they were alone.

“Waiting for you,” replied Terwilliger. “I was going to give you two more days to show up, and then hop over to Hallmark.”

“Why were you skulking after me like some kind of criminal?”

“I have my reasons,” he said.

“You mean the Angel?” asked Virtue. “He doesn’t give a damn who I talk to.”

“I’m not worried about the Angel.”

“Then what are you worried about?”

“ManMountain Bates.”

“Is he still after you?”

“The man simply will not let bygones be bygones!” complained Terwilliger peevishly. “He’s chased me halfway across the Inner Frontier.”

“You seem to have done the same to me,” remarked Virtue. “Were you on New Ecuador, too?”

The little gambler shook his head. “I followed you as far as Questados Four. Then Bates started breathing down my neck again, so I decided to jump a few worlds ahead of you, just in case he was using you to find me.” He paused for breath, then continued. “The Swagman told me that the Angel would probably pass through Sunnybeach or Hallmark, depending on what he learned on Lambda Karos, and I came here first. It sounded like a vacation planet.” He grimaced. “They ought to draw and quarter the guy who named it. Hanging’s too good for him.”

“Why were you looking for me in the first place?”

“Cain sent me.”

“To spy on me?”

“Well, now, spy is a pretty ugly word,” said Terwilliger, pulling a deck of cards out of his pocket and nervously starting to shuffle them. “Besides, if I was really spying on you, I’d stay in hiding. You’d never know I was around.”

“I’d just listen for the sound of a spine snapping,” she said nastily.

He winced. “Don’t remind me.”

“All right,” she said. “You’re not spying. You’re just here to sample Sunnybeach’s delightful climate.” She paused. “What else are you here for?”

“To appraise the situation.”

“And what’s your appraisal?”