Page:The council of seven.djvu/172

 behind it. "Setting the affairs of the universe in order, I daresay."

The answer of John Endor was icy, venomous, slow. "Of the Planet at any rate."

"So!" said the Colossus. "One guessed your program was ambitious. Maybe you'll find the affairs of the Planet a pretty tough problem, my friend." And there was a challenge in his voice and in his eyes.

Endor's face grew darker. "No doubt," he said aloofly. And then, without another word, he turned abruptly and lurched a little unsteadily out of the room. As he did so he switched off the light.

The Colossus was able to get an hour or two of troubled sleep. But it was disturbed by bad dreams. Take it altogether it was perhaps the least agreeable night he had ever spent. The arrival of his servant at eight o'clock with tea and shaving water came as a real relief. Never had daylight been quite so welcome. But it was a prelude to a day of tedium broken now and then by moments of acute embarrassment. The other men continued to keep him at arm's length, and he was at no pains to disguise that he fully reciprocated their feelings. Besides, much of their time seemed to be passed in anxious conclave, of which, although conducted in secret with all the privacy of closed doors, he was not slow to guess the nature.

As far as the women were concerned, he did not get on much better. His hostess, a creature of rare accomplishment and charm, was not at all at ease in her