No one spoke. Hound shook his head.

"Horn? You were recommended to Pig by another ghost, as we heard a few minutes ago. You must have some conjecture."

Oreb croaked, "Silk talk!" impatiently.

"I have nothing to say," he told Mint, "beyond the comment that both the theories you've outlined seem implausible to me. You challenge me, very justly, to put forward a better one; but I can't."

Mint raised her eyebrows. "You have no idea whether she's female or not?"

"Why, no. If everyone who has seen her thinks her female, I would think it highly probable she is."

Beside him Pig muttered, "Have a care, bucky."

Hound said, "If she's material, not a real ghost, you might set a trap for her. My wife and I have a little shop in Endroad, and we sell them there, traps for animals, I mean. I can give you the name of a man who'll make you a bigger one."

Mint shook her head. "That would be cruel. I would much rather have a ghost to talk about than catch a child in a trap. But I haven't told you the most interesting part so far. She was seen again yesterday."

"Fient!"

"Yes, she was, Pig. By our cook. And she had Silk's ghost with her. Horn?"

"It still sounds as though you're saying Silk is dead."

"I'm not. Our cook, you must understand, thinks our little ghost is a real ghost, the spirit of someone who left this life without attaining Mainframe. All the servants-"

Bison, returning to his chair, shook his head. "I don't believe in ghosts."

"I didn't say you did, darling, I said they do. As it happens, I believe in them myself. But not in ghosts who steal and leave footprints."

Bison said, "We don't see her for months. Then somebody hears her walking on the floor above and it starts all over again. We hear her a lot more than we see her, really."

Mint nodded. "I was about to say, Horn, that even though I believe in ghosts, I don't believe in this one. And since our limping child isn't a real ghost, I doubt that Silk was a ghost either. I think it was the living Calde Silk our cook saw. Were you able to reach His Cognizance, darling? You were at it long enough. What did he say?"

Bison hitched his high-backed armchair nearer the table. "Don't you want to finish with the ghost first?"

"I'm nearly finished. I was going to say that Silk wasn't wearing his robe. He comes to this palace in lay clothing quite often, so that isn't surprising. A calde, even a former one, has to be extremely careful. At any rate, he was wearing ordinary clothes, according to our cook. But they must have been very dirty. She said they looked as though he'd escaped his grave."

"Did he have…?" Hound pointed to Oreb.

"No bird?"

Mint shook her head. "In a robe, with his famous pet upon his shoulder, he would have been recognized by everyone. With neither, he was still recognized by our cook, who used to be his. She must have seen him every day then, or very nearly. Wouldn't you say she sees you about that often, darling?"

Bison nodded.

"After I became calde, he and Hyacinth were often here as our guests. Shall I bring the cook in so you can question her yourselves?"

"Nae fer me, mistress."

"What do you think, Hound? Should I bring her in?"

With more spirit than might have been expected, Hound said, "I think we should all be open and honest for a change."

Oreb flapped his applause. "Silk talk!"

"Very well," he said, "I will begin. You know, obviously, that it was I and not Calde Silk your cook saw. It was. If you want to bring her in and have her identify me, go ahead."

Mint said, "No."

"As you wish." He was about to mention the gardener, but reflected that the old man had not betrayed him; the least he could do was to reciprocate. "You want me to tell you who your ghost is. I understand that-I'd feel the same way in your place. But she reposed her trust in me, thinking I was Patera Silk; and I intend to keep faith with her."

Bison said, "She thought you were Silk."

He nodded. "I just said so."

"So does the Prolocutor. He wants you to sacrifice in the Grand Manteion this afternoon."

"I've told you I'm not an augur."

Mint said, "You would be assisting him, I would imagine," and Bison nodded.

Pig pushed back his chair. "Best gang, bucky, an' yer weel nae. Bide, an' she'll make fast."

"But we hope he will," Bison said, "and if he will there's no reason he shouldn't remain. I ask it as a favor to me, and to my wife."

"So do I," Mint declared.

"Gang h'or bide, bucky?" Pig's big hand found his forearm.

He shrugged. "Bide. I've honored General Mint since I was a boy. I can't refuse her now."

"Good!" Bison poured himself more wine. "Your friend Hound says we ought to be more honest, so here's my contribution. I knew about this when you came to my office. That is to say, I knew that the Chapter has been looking for you and that it was because the Prolocutor had heard you were here and wanted you for manteion this afternoon. I didn't want you to do it, and so-"

Hound interrupted. "Why not?"

"Because I thought he was going to tell everybody to get on landers. We've had too much of that already. Besides, I don't have landers to give them. A couple, actually, but they're not in working order. It would cost more than the city can spare to send them off." Bison sipped his wine. "But he's not going to say that. Are you?"

"No." He sighed. "No, I'm not. I'm going to tell them what the godling told me, which is that they are to remain. That Pas-well, never mind. I'll tell them to stay, and ask their help in finding Silk."

"Silk here," Oreb declared testily.

Mint nodded. "You said our little ghost mistook you for Calde Silk."

"Yes," he said. "She did." He recalled the gardener again and added, "It happens fairly frequently."

"I dare say. Darling, I should let you finish, but I'll do it for you. Possibly I can save you embarrassment. You were going to confess, weren't you, that you arranged this luncheon to get our guests out of the Prolocutor's reach? You were going to keep them here on one pretext or another until his sacrifice was over. Isn't that right?"

Bison grunted assent.

"Very well." Mint raised a shirred oyster halfway to her mouth, then laid her fork aside. "We've had Horn's honesty and my husband's. I don't think Oreb has to unburden his conscience. He's been entirely open from the beginning. I'll go next, and after that it will be Hound's turn, and Pig's. I intend to require it of you both, gentlemen, so be warned."

"Nae meself fashes me, mistress," Pig rumbled.

"Here then is my confession,"Mint continued. "Horn, you said our ghost mistook you for Calde Silk, and implied that our cook did as well. You say such mistakes happen often."

"Yes."He was looking around again, not for Olivine or Mucor this time, but because he wanted to see the room itself.

(I'll never come here again, he thought. Soon we'll go to the Grand Manteion, and I'll assist. I don't know where we'll go after that, perhaps back to Ermine's or the Juzgado, but we won't come back here. I'll walk out the big door, the troopers will shut it behind me, and I'll never see this any more.)

"Were you on Blue before you came here? You were sent out from there, you said, and you talk about taking Silk there."

He shook his head. "I was on Green. I spent nearly a year there; but I came there from Blue. We've a house-you'd call it a cot tage-on the south end of Lizard Island, near the Tail. A house and a mill. I used to have a boat, too, though I'm afraid that's gone forever."

"I must ask you this. It may be cruel. I think it is, but I have to. Were mistakes of this kind common when you were on Green? Did people there sometimes call you Silk, for example?"

He shook his head again. "I doubt that any of them had ever seen Silk-or knew his name, unless they had heard it from me."