" Excuse me," said Big Mad Adrian, his voice cargoed with suspicion, "I don't want to cause any trouble, right, but is this Death or not? I've seen pictures, and they didn't look like her."

" We did the Rite stuff," said Ridcully. "And this is what we got."

" Yes, but my father's a herring fisherman and he doesn't just find herring in his herring nets," said Skazz.

" Yeah. She could be anyone," said Tez the Terrible. "I thought Death was taller and bonier."

" She's just some girl messing about," said Skazz.

Susan stared at them.

" She hasn't even got a scythe," said Tez.

Susan concentrated. The scythe appeared in her hands, its blue‑edged blade making a noise like a finger dragged around the rim of a glass.

The students straightened up.

" But I've always thought it was time for a change," said Tez.

" Right. It's about time girls got a chance in the professions," said Skazz.

" Don't you dare patronize me!"

" That's right; said Ponder. "There's no reason why Death has to be male. A woman could be almost as good as a man in the job."

" You're doing it very well," said Ridcully.

He gave Susan an encouraging smile.

She rounded on him. I'm Death, she thought technically, anyway ‑ and this is a fat old man who has no right to give me any kind of orders. I'll glare at him, and he'll soon realize the gravity of his situation. She glared.

" Young lady," said Ridcully, "would you care for breakfast?"

The Mended Drum seldom closed. There tended to be a lull around six in the morning, but Hibiscus stayed open so long as someone wanted a drink.

Someone wanted a lot of drinks. Someone indistinct was standing at the bar. Sand seemed to be running out of him and, in so far as Hibiscus could tell, he had a number of arrows of Klatchian manufacture sticking in him.

The barman leaned forward.

" Have I seen you before?"

I'M IN HERE QUITE OFTEN, YES. A WEEK LAST WEDNESDAY, FOR EXAMPLE.

"Ha! That was a bit of a do. That's when poor old Vince got stabbed."

YES.

" Asking for it, calling yourself Vincent the Invulnerable."

YES. INACCURATE, TOO.

"The Watch are saying it was suicide."

Death nodded. Going into the Mended Drum and calling yourself Vincent the Invulnerable was clearly suicide by Ankh­Morpork standards.

THIS DRINK'S GOT MAGGOTS IN IT.

The barman squinted at it.

" That's not a maggot, sir," he said. "That's a worm."

OH THAT'S BETTER, IS IT?

"It's supposed to be there, sir. That's mexical, that is. They put the worm in to show how strong it is."

STRONG ENOUGH TO DROWN WORMS?

The barman scratched his head. He'd never thought of it in those terms.

" It's just something people drink," he said vaguely.

Death picked up the bottle and held it up to what normally would have been eye level. The worm rotated forlornly.

WHAT'S IT LIKE? he said.

" Well, it's a sort of–"

I WASN'T TALKING TO YOU.

"Breakfast? said Susan, I mean‑ BREAKFAST?

" It must be coming up to that time," said the Archchancellor. "It's a long time since I last had breakfast with a charming young woman."

"Good grief, you're all just as bad as each other," said Susan.

" Very well, scratch charming," said Ridcully evenly. "But the sparrows are coughin' in the trees and the sun is peepin' over the wall and I smell cookin', and having a meal with Death is a chance that doesn't happen to everyone. You don't play chess, do you?"

" Extremely well," said Susan, still bewildered.

" Thought as much. All right, you fellows. You can go back to prodding the universe. Will you step this way, madam?"

" I can't leave the circle!"

" Oh, you can if I invite you. It's all a matter of courtesy. I don't know if you've ever had the concept explained?"

He reached out and took her hand. She hesitated, then stepped across the chalk line. There was a slight tingling feeling.

The students backed away hurriedly.

" Go on, get on with it," said Ridcully. "This way, madam."

Susan had never experienced charm before. Ridcully possessed quite a lot of it, in a twinkly‑eyed kind of way.

She followed him across the lawns to the Great Hall.

The breakfast tables had been laid out, but they were unoccupied. The big sideboard had sprouted copper tureens like autumn fungi. Three rather young maids were waiting patiently behind the array.

" We tend to help ourselves," said Ridcully conversationally, lifting a cover. "Waiters and so on make too much nois‑ this is some sort of a joke, is it?"

He prodded what was under the cover and beckoned the nearest maid.

" Which one are you?" he said. "Molly, Polly or Dolly?"

" Molly, your lordship," said the maid, dropping a curtsy and trembling slightly. " Is there something wrong?"

" A‑wrong‑wrong‑wrong‑wrong, a‑do‑wrong‑wrong," said the other two maids.

" What happened to the kippers? What's this? Looks like a beef patty in a bun," said Ridcully, staring at the girls.

" Mrs Whitlow gave instructions to the cook," said Molly nervously. "It's a–'

" –yay‑yay‑yay–'

" –it's a burger."

" You're telling me' said Ridcully. "And why've you got a beehive made of hair on your head, pray? Makes you look like a matchstick."

" Please sir, we–'

" You went to see the Music With Rocks In concert, did you?"

" Yes, sir."

" Yay, yay."

" You, er, you didn't throw anything on the stage, did you?"

" No, sir!"

" Where's Mrs Whitlow?"

" In bed with a cold, sir."

" Not at all surprised." Ridcully turned to Susan. "People are playing silly burgers, I'm afraid."

" I eat only muesli at breakfast," said Susan.

" There's porridge," said Ridcully. "We do it for the Bursar because it's not exciting." He lifted the lid of a tureen. "Yes, still here," he said. "There's some things Music With Rocks In can't change, and one of them's porridge. Let me help you to a ladleful."

They sat on either side of the long table..

" Well, isn't this nice?" Ridcully said.

" Are you laughing at me?" said Susan suspiciously.

" Not at all. In my experience, what you mostly get in herring nets is herring. But, speaking as a mortal a customer, as you might say ‑ I'm interested to know why Death is suddenly a teenage girl instead of the animate natomy we've come to know and... know."

" Natomy?"

" Another word for skeleton. Probably derived from "anatomy"."

" He's my grandfather."

" Ah. Yes, you said. And that's true, is it?"

" It sounds a bit silly, now I come to tell someone else."

Ridcully shook his head.

" You should do my job for five minutes. Then tell me about silly," he said. He took a pencil out of his pocket and cautiously lifted the top half of the bun on his plate.

" There's cheese in this," he said, accusingly.

" But he's gone off somewhere and next thing I know I've inherited the whole thing. I mean, I didn't ask for it! Why me? Having to go around with this silly scythe thing... that's not what I wanted out of life–"

" It's certainly not something you get careers leaflets about," said Ridcully.

" Exactly."

" And I suppose you're stuck with it?" said Ridcully.

" We don't know where he's gone. Albert says he's very depressed about something but he won't say what."

" Dear me. What could depress Death?"

" Albert seems to think he might do something... silly."

" Oh, dear. Not too silly, I hope. Could that be possible? It'd be... morticide, I suppose. Or cidicide."