the trauma;
and has results of its own, by the way, which succeed in stabilizing
the traumatic shock on several levels."

Malone blinked. "That last part began to get me a little," he said.
"Can we go over it again, just the tune this time and leave out the
harmony?"

Marshall smiled. "Certainly," he said. "Remember that Her Majesty has
been locked up in institutions since early adolescence. Because of
this--a direct result of the original psychosis--she has been
deprived, not only of the communication which serves as a sublimation
for sexual activity, but, in fact, any normal sexual activity. Her
identification of herself with the Virgin Queen is far from
accidental, Sir Kenneth."

The idea that conservation was sex was a new and somewhat frightening
one to Malone, but he stuck to it grimly. "No sex," Malone said.
"That's the basic trouble."

Marshall nodded. "It always is," he said. "In one form or another, Sir
Kenneth; it is at the root of such problems at all times. But in Her
Majesty's case the psychosis has become stabilized; she is the Virgin
Queen, and therefore her failure to become part of the normal sexual
activity of her group has a reason. It is accepted on that basis by
her own psyche."

"I see," Malone said. "Or, anyhow, I think I do. But how about
changes? Could she get worse or better? Could she start lying to
people--for the fun of it, or for reasons of her own?"

"Changes in her psychic state don't seem very probable," Marshall
said. "In theory, of course, anything is possible; but in fact, I have
observed and worked with Her Majesty and no such change has occurred.
You may take that as definite."

"And the lying?" Malone said.

Marshall frowned slightly. "I've just explained," he said, "that Her
Majesty has been blocked in the direction of communication--that is,
in the direction of one of her most important sexual sublimations.
Such communication as she can have, therefore, is to be highly
treasured by her; it provides the nearest thing to sex that she may
have. As the Virgin Queen, she may still certainly _converse_ in any
way possible. She would not injure that valuable possession and right
by falsifying it. It's quite impossible, Sir Kenneth. Quite
impossible."

This did not make Malone feel any better. It removed one of the two
possibilities--but it left him with no vacation, and the most
complicated case he had ever dreamed of sitting squarely in his lap
and making rude faces at