“No, no, not a word of it, Lord Hypoc!” Rory held up a restraining hand. “You young folk must keep on without me; you mustn’t abate your pleasures simply because I must leave.”
“As you wish, Pater.” The gentlemen started to rise, but Rory waved them back. “Sit down, sit down! There is no need for such ceremony—though I must admit I enjoy it. Good night to you all.”
“Good night, Pater.”
“Good night, milord.”
And Rory left in a chorus of good wishes, with Fess behind him. The gentlemen remained standing in frozen tableau until the door slid firmly shut behind Fess.
Then Rupert collapsed with a shuddering sigh, pressing a hand to his brow. “No one should have heard that but family!”
“Oh, come now, Rupert.” Robin resumed his seat, smiling. “It wasn’t so bad as all that.”
“So bad!” Elaine squawked. “With a stranger present? …Oh! I’m sorry, Doctor.”
“Not at all, milady.” Dr. Reves smiled, amused, as he sat down again. “And please do not feel put out—that was, after all, what I came to hear.”
“In fact, even solicited.” Robin nodded. “You drew him out excellently, Doctor.”
“Training and practice.” Reves waved away the compliment. “All an aspect of my profession—which, I assure you, includes total confidentiality.”
“Thank Heaven for that! A stranger might have thought Pater was speaking sedition!”
“I suppose that could be said of all of us,” Dr. Reves mused. “However, we seem to be in agreement with an overwhelming majority on all the planets except Terra itself.”
“And even there, we have indications that the people are unhappy with PEST.” Robin nodded. “Although that might just be a matter of their beginning to believe the Dictator is powerless to stop them.”
“But there is no Parliament, of course,” Rupert said firmly.
“No, though there is some likelihood of some sort of representative body forming,” Dr. Reves demurred.
“Will it require a war, though?” Robin mused, looking at the brandy in his snifter. “Or will the Dictator have sense enough to step aside gracefully?”
“A fascinating question, I’m sure,” Rupert said impatiently. “However, the question in hand concerns our father, not our government. What is your diagnosis, Doctor?”
“Your father is an immense success,” Dr. Reves sighed.
“Success?” Rupert frowned. “In what way?”
“He has immensely succeeded in escaping reality.”
The room was silent for a moment.
Then Robin leaned back with a sigh. “I was afraid you would say something like that.”
Elaine found her voice gain. “Well, really, Robin! It was rather obvious, you know. But Doctor, is he really seeing all the things he is describing to us?”
“He is, milady, unless he is perpetrating a huge hoax on us all.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Rupert muttered darkly.
“Perhaps not, but we must assume he is sincere.”
“But how can he be speaking to us, in our own world?” Rose frowned.
“He perceives you all as denizens of Granclarte, milady, even as he himself is—but he sees you as emissaries from the world he has left.”
“My lord!” Robin stared, appalled. “You mean he thinks it’s we who travel from universe to universe, not him?”
“Yes, if he concerns himself about it at all—which I don’t think he does. To him, the two worlds seem thoroughly compatible; he sees no need to rationalize their junction.”
“But what could have moved him to such extremes?” Rupert scowled.
“The tedium of an obscure and isolated life, milord. Oh, you and I may not mind the isolation, since we have the companionship of kindred spirits available, and have occasionally sojourned on Terra—but I infer that your father wished to live there, and was prevented from decamping by his rank.”
“He was the only son,” Rupert mused, “after his elder brother died.”
Dr. Reves nodded. “Finally, he acknowledged that he would never be able to leave home—and that despair, when deepened by the loss of his wife, moved him to invent a fantasy world of his own, of which he is official chronicler, retaining his own name and rank, but residing at the court.”
“The poor man.” Rose was dewy-eyed.
“Poor us, rather!” Elaine said indignantly. “It’s we who must bear the burden of his delusion!”
“Oh, we can cope with it, surely!” Rose protested. “At least, we can once we know of it. It’s been the surprise of it all that has disconcerted us.”
Elaine didn’t look convinced.
“We must, in any case,” Rupert grumbled.
“There isn’t much choice,” Robin agreed, “though there’s no harm in it, either, since he has relinquished the running of the factory to you, and the running of the household to Elaine.”
“There’s some truth in that,” Rupert muttered. “But it’s a deuced inconvenience.”
“Yes, perhaps that’s the mark of it.” Dr. Reves smiled thinly. “He has inconvenienced himself for others’ sake, all his life, and has finally decided to do as he wishes.”
“Oh, ho!” Robin grinned. “You mean it’s our turn to be inconvenienced? Well, I must say there’s some poetic justice in that.”
Rupert frowned, and Elaine looked downright resentful—she hadn’t grown up in Castle d’Armand, after all; Rory’s self-sacrifice hadn’t been for her.
Rose, on the other hand, realized that she did benefit by Rory’s life. But then, she was glad she had Robin.
“He must, of course, be watched continually,” Dr. Reves cautioned. “He might let his delusion lead him into danger.”
Robin nodded. “We’ve been alert for that. All the robots are programmed to notify us of unusual behavior, and we try to make sure one of us is always nearby.”
“That’s most important.” Dr. Reves nodded. “Loneliness is his Nemesis now.”
“Isn’t it for us all?” Elaine muttered, but Robin added, “Fess is good company, robot or no, Doctor. And, of course, he’s a most excellent sentry. So he can be alert for signs of…” he couldn’t quite finish the sentence.
“Be watchful, in case he deteriorates into a less-controlled condition?” Reves nodded. “Of course. But there’s really no sign of that.”
“Well, that’s a relief, at least.”
Rupert was still concerned, though. “What if Pater decides to exercise his authority again, Doctor? I mean, we can’t have the factory running like a medieval smithy!”
“There’s no danger of that, at the moment.”
“I should say not!” Robin declared. “He wants to be as far from the factory as he can!”
Rupert turned to stare at his brother. “You understand his feelings?”
Robin’s smile slipped. “Well, let us say I can envision the situation from his perspective.”
Rose turned to gaze at her husband, musing.
“But don’t be concerned, old fellow,” Robin said. “If he attempts anything of the kind, I daresay I can talk his sort of reason with him.”
“No doubt you can.” Rupert was eyeing his brother a little oddly, but all he said was, “Stay close to him, will you, Robin?”
“At least I’m doing something beneficial here.”
“Oh, darling, you so undervalue your own accomplishments!” Rose sat down on the bed beside him. “You have three patents in your own name, Robin, and the firm is making a very handsome income from two of them!”
“Yes, and we could do quite well with the third.” Robin smiled ruefully. “Too bad Pater chose to refuse it; Msimangu Mannikins is doing great business with it.”