ect," Blundell said.

"What else do you know?"

"That you suspected her of being responsible for the deaths of many
old people by starvation. Your suspicion was justified, except that
her father had caused all those that occurred before 1947, when she
took over after his own death. All but two people were sent into the
past. Roberts was curious about the future, of course, but he did not
want to waste a victim on a trip that would probably be fruitless. In
the past, you understand, he knew precisely what he was after. The
future was completely unknown territory."

"But she took the chance," I said.

"If you can call deliberate murder taking a chance, yes. One man
arrived in 2094, over fifty years ago. The other was yourself. The
first one, as you know, died of malnutrition when he was brought back
to your era."

"And what happened to me?" I asked, jittering.

"You will not die. We intend to make sure of that. All the other
victims--I presume you're interested in their errands?"

"I think I know, but I'd like to find out just the same."

"They were sent to the past to buy or steal treasures of various
sorts--art, sculpture, jewelry, fabulously valuable manuscripts and
books, anything that had great scarcity value."

"That's not possible," I objected. "She had all the money she wanted.
Any time she needed more, all she had to do was send somebody back to
put down bets and buy stocks that she knew were winners. She had the
records, didn't she? There was no way she or her father could lose!"

* * * * *

He moved his shoulders in a plum-and-gold shrug. "Most of the
treasures they accumulated were for acquisition's sake--and for the
sake of vengeance for the way they believed Dr. Roberts had been
treated. When there were unusual expenses, such as replacing the very
costly parts of the time machine, that required more than they could
produce in ready cash, both Roberts and his daughter 'discovered'
these treasures."

He waited while I digested the miserable meal and the disturbing
information he had given me. I thought I'd found a loophole in his
explanation: "You said people were sent back to the past to _buy_
treasures, besides stealing them."

"I did," he agreed. "They were provided with currency of whatever era
they were to visit."

I felt my forehead wrinkle up as my theory fell apart. "Then they
could buy food. Why should they have died of malnutrition?"

"Because, as Ma