After he had left, I sat there for a minute or two, just thinking.

Then Brownlee came back from his conference with the D.A. and sat down beside me.

"I met your n.o.ble friend heading for the D.A."s office," he said with a smile. "He said that any man who was as determined to find a better method in order to replace a merely workable method is a remarkable man and therefore worth studying under. I just told him I agreed with him."

"Thanks," I said. "Thanks a lot."

Because Brownlee knows why I"m looking for a cure to replace the stopgap. Brownlee knows why I gave up smoking three years ago, why I don"t have any matches or lighters in the house, why I keep the ashtrays for guests only, and why, for that reason, I don"t have many guests. Brownlee knows why there are only electric stoves in my apartment--never gas.

Brownlee knows why my son quivers and turns his head away from a match flame. Brownlee knows why he had to put the _geas_ on Stevie.

And I even think Brownlee suspects that I concealed some of the evidence in the fire that killed Stevie"s mother--my wife.

Yes, I"m looking for a cure. But until then, I"ll be thankful for the stopgap.