Amadiro said, with an edge of desperation in his voice, “Mr. Chairman, I honestly cannot remember what I said in casual conversation. If I did mention the word—and I don’t admit I did—it may have been the result of some other casual conversation in which someone mentioned the fact that Gladia acted as love-struck toward her robot as though he were her husband.”

The Chairman said, “And with whom did you have this other casual conversation? Who made this statement to you?”

“At the moment, I cannot say.”

Baley said, “Mr. Chairman, if Dr. Amadiro will be so kind as to list anyone and everyone who might have used the word to him, we can question every one of them to discover which one can remember making such a remark.”

Amadiro said, “I hope, Mr. Chairman, you will consider the effect on the morale of the Institute if anything of this sort is done.”

The Chairman said, “I hope you will consider it, too, Dr. Amadiro, and come up with a better answer to our question, so that we are not forced to extremes.”

“One moment, Mr. Chairman,” said Baley, as obsequiously as he could manage, “there remains a question.”

“Again? Another one?” The Chairman looked at Baley without favor. “What is it?”

“Why is Dr. Amadiro struggling so to avoid admitting he knew of Jander’s relation to Gladia? He says it is irrelevant. In that case, why not say he knew of the relationship and be done with it? I say it is relevant and that Dr. Amadiro knows that his administration could be used to demonstrate criminal activity on his part.”

Amadiro thundered, “I resent the expression and I demand an apology!”

Fastolfe smiled thinly and Baley’s lips pressed together grimly. He had forced Amadiro over the edge.

The Chairman turned an almost alarming red and said with passion, “You demand? You demand? To whom do you demand? I am the Chairman. I hear all views before deciding what to suggest as best to be done. Let me hear what the Earthman has to say about his interpretation of your action. If he is slandering you, he shall be punished, you may be sure, and I will take the broadest view of the slander statutes, too, you may be sure. But you, Amadiro, may make no demands upon me. Go on, Earthman. Say what you have to say, but be extraordinarily careful.”

Baley said, “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Actually, there is one Auroran to whom Gladia did tell the secret of her relationship with Jander.”

The Chairman interrupted. “Well, who is that? Do not play your hyperwave tricks on me.”

Baley said, “I have no intention of anything but a straightforward statement, Mr. Chairman. The one Auroran is, of course, Jander himself. He may have been a robot, but he is an inhabitant of Aurora and might be viewed—as an Auroran. Gladia must surely, in her passion, have addressed him as ‘my husband.’ Since Dr. Amadiro has admitted he might possibly have heard from someone else some statement to the effect of Jander’s husbandly relationship to Gladia, isn’t it logical to suppose that he heard of the matter from Jander? Would Dr. Amadiro be willing, right now, to state for the record that he never spoke to Jander during the period when Jander formed part of Gladia’s staff?”

Twice Amadiro’s mouth opened as though he would speak. Twice he did not utter a sound.

“Well,” said the Chairman, “did you speak to Jander during that period, Dr. Amadiro?”

There was still no answer.

Baley said softly, “If he did, it is entirely relevant to the matter at hand.”

“I’m beginning to see that it must be, Mr. Baley. Well, Dr. Amadiro, once again—yes or no.”

And Amadiro burst forth, “What evidence does this Earthman have against me in this matter? Does he have a recording of any conversation I have had with Jander? Does he have witnesses who are willing to say they have seen me with Jander? What does he have anything at all besides mere self-serving statements?”

The Chairman turned to look at Baley and Baley said, “Mr. Chairman, if I have nothing at all, then Dr. Amadiro should not hesitate to deny, for the record, any contact with Jander but he does not do so. As it happens, in the course of my investigation, I spoke to Dr. Vasilia Aliena, the daughter of Dr. Fastolfe. I spoke also to a young Auroran named Santirix Gremionis. In the recordings of both interviews, it will be plain that Dr. Vasilia encouraged Gremionis to pay court to Gladia. You may question Dr. Vasilia as to her purpose in so doing and as to whether this course of action had been suggested to her by Dr. Amadiro. It also appears that it was Gremionis’ custom to take long walks with Gladia, which both enjoyed, and on which they were not accompanied by the robot, Jander. You might check on this, if you wish, sir.”

The Chairman said dryly, “I may do so, but if all is as you say, what does this show?”

Baley said, “I have stated that, failing Dr. Fastolfe himself, the secret of the humaniform robot could be obtained only from Daneel. Before Jander’s death, it could, with equal facility, have been obtained from Jander. Whereas Daneel was part of Dr. Fastolfe’s establishment and could not easily be reached, Jander was part of Gladia’s establishment and she was not as sophisticated as Dr. Fastolfe in seeing to a robot’s protection.

“Isn’t it likely that Dr. Amadiro took the occasion of Gladia’s periodic absences from her establishment, when she was walking with Gremionis, to converse with Jander, perhaps by trimensional viewing, to study his responses, to subject him to various tests, and then to erase any sign of his visit with Jander, so that he could never inform Gladia of it? It may be that he came close to finding what he wanted to know—before the attempt ended when Jander went out of action. His concentration then shifted to Daneel. He felt—perhaps that he had only a few tests and observations left to make and so he set up the trap of yesterday evening, as I said earlier in my—my testimony.”

The Chairman said, in what was almost a whisper, “Now it all hangs together. I am almost forced to believe.”

“Plus one final point and then I will truly have nothing more to say,” said Baley. “In his examination and testing of Jander, it is entirely possible that Dr. Amadiro accidentally—and without any deliberate intention whatever—immobilized Jander and thus committed roboticide.”

And Amadiro, maddened, shouted, “No! Never! Nothing I did to that robot could possibly have immobilized him!”

Fastolfe interposed. “I agree. Mr. Chairman, I, too, think that Dr. Amadiro did not immobilize Jander. However, Mr. Chairman, Dr. Amadiro’s statement just now would seem an implicit admission that he was working with Jander—and that Mr. Baley’s analysis of the situation is essentially accurate.”

The Chairman nodded. “I am forced to agree with you, Dr. Fastolfe.—Dr. Amadiro, you may insist on a formal denial of all this and that may force me into a full-fledged investigation, which could do you a great deal of damage, however it turned out and I rather suspect, at this stage, it is likely to turn out to your great disadvantage. My suggestion is that you do not force this—that you do not cripple your own position in the Legislature and, perhaps, cripple Aurora’s ability to continue along a smooth political course.

“As I see it, before the matter of Jander’s immobilization came up, Dr. Fastolfe had a majority of the legislators—not a large majority, admittedly—on his side in the matter of Galactic settlement. You would have swung enough legislators to your side by pushing the matter of Dr. Fastolfe’s supposed responsibility for Jander’s immobilization and thus have gained the majority. But now Dr. Fastolfe, if he wishes, can turn the tables by accusing you of the immobilization and, moreover, of having tried to hang a false accusation upon your opponent as well—and you would lose.

“If I do not interfere, then it may be that you, Dr. Amadiro, and you, Dr. Fastolfe, actuated by stubbornness or even vindictiveness, will both marshal your forces and accuse each other of all sorts of things. Our political forces and public opinion too, will be hopelessly divided—even fragmented—to our infinite harm.