"An emergency meeting," Schwartz murmured after they had passed. Hicks raised his eyebrow in query. "They're thinking of implementing Section 4 of the Emergency Banking Act, and Section 19a of the Securities and Exchange Act."

"What are those?" he asked.

"Temporarily close the banks and the stock exchanges," Schwartz said. "If the President makes his speech."

The President's secretary, Nancy Congdon, came to the doors and smiled at the four of them. "Just a few minutes, Irwin," she said, silently easing them shut.

"Do you need a chair?" Schwartz asked Harry. Harry shook his head calmly. He was already used to people being solicitous. He takes it with something beyond dignity —with aplomb.

The secretary opened the doors and invited them in.

Mrs. Hampton had redecorated the President's office, hanging the three windows behind the President's large, ornately decorated desk with white curtains and ordering a new oval green rug with the presidential seal. The room seemed filled with light, verdant and springlike despite the gray winter skies outside. Through the windows, Arthur caught a glimpse of the snow-patched Rose Garden. He had last been in the Oval Office a year and a half before.

Crockerman sat behind the Victorian-era desk, looking over a stack of briefs tucked into brown folders. Some of the folders, Arthur noticed, were marked DIRNSA— Director, National Security Agency. Others were from the offices of the Secretary of the Treasury and the Securities and Exchange Commission. He's not going off half cocked. He's preparing, and he deeply believes in what he's doing. He hasn't stopped being presidential.

"Hello, Irwin, Arthur . . ." Crockerman stood and reached across the desk to shake their hands. "Trevor, Harry." He pointed to the four leather-bottomed, cane-backed chairs arranged before the desk. Addressing Hicks in particularr he said, "Sarah mentioned I might be meeting with you."

"I think we've all joined forces, Mr. President," Schwartz said.

"Are you feeling up to this, Harry?" Crockerman asked, politely solicitous.

"Yes, Mr. President," Harry replied smoothly. "I'm not needed back with the mice and monkeys until the day after tomorrow."

"We need you here, Harry," the President said earnestly. "We can't afford to lose you now."

"That's not what I've been hearing, Mr. President," Harry said. Crockerman showed some puzzlement. "You haven't been, listening to anybody I trust around here, much less myself."

"Gentlemen," Crockerman said, raising his eyebrows. "Time to speak openly. And I apologize for being inaccessible recently. Time has been precious."

Schwartz leaned forward on his chair, clasping his hands. As he spoke, he raised his eyes slowly from his feet to Crockerman's face. "Mr. President, we're not here to mince words. I've told Harry, and Trevor, and Arthur, that it's going to take some powerful persuasion to move you back onto a rational course. They've come loaded for bear."

Crockerman nodded and rested his hands lightly on the edge of the desk, as if he might push away at any moment. His expression remained pleasant, alert.