He looked up and caught my eye on him, and for a moment I thought he was about to speak. Then he went on past.
At the end of the line he turned abruptly and spoke to a man who hurried away. Then he engaged in conversation with a cluster of head-bobbing guests.
I spent the next fifteen minutes casually getting closer to the door nearest the one the Baron had entered by. I looked around; nobody was paying any attention to me. I stepped past a guard who presented arms. The door closed softly, cutting off the buzz of talk and the worst of the music.
I went along to the end of the corridor. From the transverse hall, a grand staircase rose in a sweep of bright chrome and pale wood. I didn't know where it led, but it looked right. I headed for it, moving along briskly like a man with important business in mind and no time for light chitchat.
Two flights up, in a wide corridor of muted lights, deep carpets, brocaded wall hangings, mirrors, urns, and an odor of expensive tobacco and cuir russe, a small man in black bustled from a side corridor. He saw me. He opened his mouth, closed it, half turned away, then swung back to face me. I recognized him; he was the headwaiter who had pointed out the flaws in my waiting style half an hour earlier.
"Here-" he started.
I chopped him short with a roar of what I hoped was authentic upper-crust rage.
"Direct me to his Excellency's apartments, scum! And thank your guardian imp I'm in too great haste to cane you for the insolent look about you!"
He went pale, gulped hard, and pointed. I snorted and stamped past him down the turning he had indicated.
This was Baronial country, all right. A pair of guards stood at the far end of the corridor.
I'd passed half a dozen with no more than a click of heels to indicate they saw me. These two shouldn't be any different-and it wouldn't look good if I turned and started back at sight of them. The first rule of the gate-crasher is to look as if you belong where you are.
I headed in their direction.
When I was fifty feet from them they both shifted rifles-not to present-arms position, but at the ready. The nickle-plated bayonets were aimed right at me. It was no time for me to look doubtful; I kept on coming. At twenty feet, I heard their rifle bolts snick home. I could see the expressions on their faces now; they looked as nervous as a couple of teenage sailors on their first visit to a joy house.
"Point those butter knives into the corner, you banana-fingered cotton choppers!" I said, looking bored, and didn't waver. I unlimbered my swagger stick and slapped my gloved hand with it, letting them think it over. The gun muzzles dropped-just slightly. I followed up fast.
"Which is the anteroom to the Baron's apartments?" I demanded.
"Uh… this here is his Excellency's apartments, sir, but-"
"Never mind the lecture, you milk-faced fool," I cut in. "Which is the anteroom, damn you!"
"We got orders, sir. Nobody's to come closer than that last door back there."
"We got orders to shoot," the other interrupted. He was a little older-maybe twenty-two, I turned on him.
"I'm waiting for an answer to a question!"
"Sir, the Articles-"
I narrowed my eyes. "I think you'll find paragraph Two B covers Special Cosmic Top Secret Couriers. When you go off duty, report yourselves on punishment. Now, the anteroom! And be quick about it!"
The bayonets were sagging now. The younger of the two licked his lips. "Sir, we never been inside. We don't know how it's laid out in there. If the colonel wants to just take a look…"
The other guard opened his mouth to say something. I didn't wait to find out what it was. I stepped between them, muttering something about bloody recruits and important messages, and worked the fancy handle on the big gold and white door. I paused to give the two sentries a hard look.
"I hope I don't have to remind you that any mention of the movements of a Cosmic Courier is punishable by slow death. Just forget you ever saw me." I went on in and closed the door without waiting to catch the reaction to that one.
The Baron had done well by himself in the matter of decor. The room I was in-a sort of lounge-cum-bar-was paved in two-inch-deep nylon fuzz, the color of a fog at sea, that foamed up at the edges against walls of pale blue brocade with tiny yellow flowers. The bar was a teak log split down the middle and polished. The glasses sitting on it were like tissue paper engraved with patterns of nymphs and satyrs. Subdued light came from somewhere, along with a faint melody that seemed to speak of youth, long ago.
I went on into the room. I found more soft light, the glow of hand-rubbed rare woods, rich fabrics, and wide windows with a view of dark night sky. The music was coming from a long, low, built-in speaker with a lamp, a heavy crystal ashtray, and a display of hothouse roses. There was a scent in the air. Not the cuir russe and Havana leaf I'd smelled in the hall, but a subtler perfume.
I turned and looked into the eyes of a girl with long black lashes. Smooth black hair came down to bare shoulders. An arm as smooth and white as whipped cream was draped over a chair back, the hand holding an eight-inch cigarette holder and sporting a diamond as inconspicuous as a chrome-plated hubcap.
"You must want something pretty badly," she murmured, batting her eyelashes at me. I could feel the breeze at ten feet. I nodded. Under the circumstances that was about the best I could do.
"What could it be," she mused, "that's worth being shot for?" Her voice was like the rest of her: smooth, polished and relaxed-and with plenty of moxie held in reserve. She smiled casually, drew on her cigarette, tapped ashes onto the rug.
"Something bothering you, colonel?" she inquired. "You don't seem talkative."
"I'll do my talking when the Baron arrives," I said.
"In that case, Jackson," said a husky voice behind me, "you can start any time you like."
I held my hands clear of my body and turned around slowly-just in case there was a nervous gun aimed at my spine. The Baron was standing near the door, unarmed, relaxed. There were no guards in sight. The girl looked mildly amused. I put my hand on the pistol butt.
"How do you know my name?" I asked.
The Baron waved toward a chair. "Sit down, Jackson," he said, almost gently. "You've had a tough time of it-but you're all right now." He walked past me to the bar, poured out two glasses, turned, and offered me one. I felt a little silly standing there fingering the gun; I went over and took the drink.
"To the old days." The Baron raised his glass.
I drank. It was the genuine ancient stock, all right. "I asked you how you knew my name," I said.
"That's easy. I used to know you."
He smiled faintly. There was something about his face…
"You look well in the uniform of the Penn dragoons," he said. "Better than you ever did in Aerospace blue."
"Good God!" I said. "Toby Mallon!"
He ran a hand over his bald head. "A little less hair on top, plus a beard as compensation, a few wrinkles, a slight pot. Oh, I've changed, Jackson."