e Perrl-high-C-trill-and-A-above. Then, at
precisely that moment of greatest dramatic impact, it shook its head
dizzily and passed out cold.

The girl scrambled up and knelt beside Oliver to listen to his
heartbeat, found that he was alive and raised her voice in an urgent
arpeggio that held in spite of its operatic timbre a distinct note of
command.

In answer to her call the great beast in the corner--built something
on the order of a hippopotamus but with unorthodox variations in that
it boasted six legs to either side and was covered with close-curling,
bright blue wool--trotted out of the shadows and scooped up the
unconscious bear in its four powerful anterior arms.

A word from Perrl-high-C-trill-and-A-above sent it into the main
menagerie quarters, where it stuffed the limp bear into its old cage
and trotted back to its mistress with a look of adoring deference on
its round face.

The girl gave the creature a random trill of commendation and,
displaying surprising strength for one so slight, herself dragged the
reviving Oliver back to the scene of his unfinished diagnosis. The
order given her earlier by Mr. Furnay was not forgotten, however, for
she did not linger.

"Not handsome, no," she murmured, locking the partition door behind
her this time. "But O Personal Deity of Unmarried Maidens, such
headlong bravery!"

* * * * *

Oliver roused ten minutes later to find himself alone with a memory of
nightmare and a sleeping bear that offered no resistance whatever when
he funneled a quantity of tetrachlorethylene down its throat.

He was still alone an hour later--and still trying dizzily to separate
fact from fancy, having tried the partition door and found it
locked--when the bear returned to semi-consciousness and submitted
groggily to a follow-up dosage of purgative.

Oliver would have liked to stay long enough to learn the results of
his diagnosis and to see Perrl-high-C-trill-and-A-above if she should
reappear, but a glance at his watch electrified him with the
realization that he had been away from his clinic for more than two
hours and that his Aunt Katisha and Glenna might by now have the state
police beating the palmetto flats for his body. Accordingly he left
the Furnay estate in a great hurry, pausing at the gate only long
enough to leave word for Mr. Furnay that he would ring later in the
evening to check his patient's progress.

It was not until he had retur