"It's Miss Madchen," Raoul said hesitantly.

"I guessed that." Philip's tone was caustic as he set off briskly for the house. "It's always Pandora. What precisely has she done now?"

"She has a baby."

Philip stopped in midstride. "Would you mind repeating that? Very slowly."

"She came back from the bazaar this morning with an infant," Raoul said unhappily. "I'm afraid the house is in something of a turmoil."

"She bought a baby at the bazaar?"

"No, I think she found it." Raoul's wide forehead creased in a frown. "At least I believe that's what she said. Everything was very confusing at the time."

Philip shook his head. Only Pandora was able to bewilder his usually tranquil servant to this extent. "There's more, isn't there?"

Raoul nodded reluctantly. "She also brought some people with her. I gathered they have something to do with the baby."

"People?"

"A snake charmer, two street musicians, a water vendor, and a young woman who is doing a great deal of caterwauling." His expression was pained. "She has a most distressingly shrill voice."

"Oh, my Lord. Why the hell did you let them all in?"

Raoul shrugged helplessly. "Miss Madchen was quite determined."

"Miss Madchen is always determined. That doesn't mean you can't say no."

"I seem to have problems there. She's very difficult to refuse when she wants something."

Philip couldn't argue with that. In the two weeks Pandora had been back in Sedikhan she had managed to turn his normally serene household upside down. She had been in so many scrapes, both in the bazaar and in the village, that he had been tempted to confine her to his compound. Obviously he should have done just that before this occurrence. A baby, for heaven's sake!

"I'm sure it was all done for the best of reasons," Raoul offered tentatively. "Miss Madchen is a very warmhearted young lady."

"That's generous of you," Philip said dryly. "Particularly since there's every chance you'll have to baby-sit this infant as you did that tiger cub six years ago."

"Oh dear, I hope not. I know very little about babies." He brightened. "Miss Madchen appears to be very attached to him. Perhaps she may want to take care of the child herself."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Philip muttered. He took the front stairs two steps at a time. "Where is she?"

"In the front salon," Raoul said. "There wasn't room in her suite."

Philip heard the music as soon as he entered the foyer. If you could call it music. There was some kind of stringed instrument fighting for dominance over the boom of a drum. Philip grimaced. "And you said the woman was shrill?"

"You haven't heard her yet," Raoul said gloomily.

Philip heard her a moment later, a loud wailing that was enough to set his nerves on edge. "Damn, couldn't you shut her up?"

"Miss Madchen appeared to think it was a healthy outlet."

"She would." Philip was striding swiftly down the hall toward the salon. "Order the car ready, Raoul. We're about to clean house."

"Oh yes, sir. That would be splendid," Raoul said with heartfelt relief. "I'll see to it at once."

The sight that met Philip's eyes when he walked into the salon was enough to set his head spinning.

Two musicians dressed in brightly striped robes were sitting in the center of the Aubusson carpet, one playing a zither, the other a kettledrum. The wailing woman was huddled in a heap on the couch, her face covered with a portion of her brown robe. The scarlet-garbed water vendor, with his traditional girdle of copper cups and goatskin water bag, was arguing volubly with a young man in a white turban by the window. In the midst of the tempest, Pandora sat cross-legged on the floor by the musicians, calmly playing with a dark-haired baby of perhaps seven months.

"Pandora." Philip tried to keep his voice level. "Would you be so good as to tell me what is going on here?"

She looked up with an expression of relief. "Oh, Philip, I'm so glad you're home." She jumped to her feet, snatched up the baby, and hurried across the room. "They won't listen to me. I showed them the medallion, but I'm a woman and they don't seem to have the least respect for our sex. I don't really think Hanar likes the idea of the snakes, but they won't listen to her either, and she's afraid of her father-in-law." She stopped to catch her breath. "You run this damn country. Tell them they can't do it."

"Can't do what?" he asked blankly.

"Put a snake in his playpen," Pandora said impatiently. "I don't care if it is only a harmless little grass snake. It can't be sanitary." She shivered.

"Besides, the whole idea is creepy." Her hand was rubbing the baby's back caressingly. "Imagine putting one of those things in with this darling."

"I don't want to imagine anything at all," he said, trying to hold on to his patience. "I want to be told, very clearly and precisely."

"But I am telling you," she said indignantly. "They put a snake in the baby's playpen. There was actually one curled up on the mat sleeping in the sun when I first saw the baby by the booth at the bazaar, but I snatched it out and threw it away."

"It's obvious that we're going to have to play question and answer." He stabbed his finger at the weeping woman, who broke off in midwail, her eyes wide with apprehension. "Who's that?"

"Hanar, the baby's mother. She's really quite nice, if a trifle wishy-washy."

"The one who is afraid of her father-in-law and allows snakes to be put in the baby's playpen. Now, who is the father in question?"

Pandora pointed to the young man standing by the window being berated by the huge, bearded water vendor. "Beldar, the snake charmer, and that's his father, Damien, the water vendor."

Philip gestured to the musicians sitting on the floor, then gritted his teeth as the zither emitted a particularly shrill shriek. "Do they have to do that?"

"Well, I couldn't stop them. They're Beldar's brothers and absolutely crazy about the baby. It's the first boy born in the family. They think their music soothes the baby." She glanced down at the docile little boy in her arms. "You know, theymay be right. Maybe he has a thing for heavy metal."

"Well, I do not." Philip said decisively. "Now that we have the cast of characters, let's have the scenario. You were at the bazaar this morning. You saw the snake in the baby's playpen and you took it out. What happened next?"

"Beldar came running up and tried to put it back in the playpen." Pandora's eyes were flashing with indignation. "I couldn't let him do that, could I? So I snatched up the baby and brought him here, until we could pound some sense into Beldar's head. He picked up the rest of the family as we went through the bazaar. I really think it's his father's fault. According to Hanar, he's very ambitious for his sons."

"Why does Beldar want the snake in the playpen?" The absurd picture was at last becoming clear. Only a few more pieces to the puzzle and he would be able to restore order to this madhouse.

"His father told him he should do it to get the baby accustomed to reptiles. You see, Beldar's the success in the family, and his father wants the baby to follow in Beldar's footsteps." She lowered her voice. "Just between you and me, those musicians will never make it beyond the poverty level."