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Clarey struggled on the pin. “Wives often have strange fancies about their husbands. You mustn’t take it too seriously.”

“How often have you been married, Clarey?” Han asked. “Or even linked in liaison? How many married people did you know well back on Earth?”

There was no need to answer; she knew all the answers.

“I think Clarey did a rattling good job,” Blynn said stoutly. “It wasn’t his fault that she suspects.”

“Of course not!” the general agreed. “Feminine intuition isn’t restricted to human females. In fact, in some female ilfs it’s even stronger than in humans. The precognitive faculties in the grua, for example—”

“What are you going to do?” Clarey interrupted bluntly.

Han Vollard answered him: “Nothing yet. You’ve got us a lot of information, but it’s not enough. You’ll have to keep on as you are for another three years or so.”

It was all Clarey could do to keep from trembling visibly with relief.

“It doesn’t even matter too much that one of the natives suspects,” Han went on, “as long as she doesn’t definitely know.”