26: the cat at the window

how you do expect me to defend the empire with the likes of these? i am afraid you are useless, quite useless to me just because dad is the greatest scientist in the world, people think he is some kind of nut krogold slammed his tankard down on the stout oak table lady marian smiled bravely as the drops of ale splashed her methinks the time has come, said the jester no owls are crying tonight, cromton added outside in the night a wolf howled peering through his bifocals at the report, gnard gasped quickly men, quickly! read this sir, gnard importuned darl krogar silently the master assassin drew the cobra from his tunic too late! understanding counts for very little, cromton assured the king virtuous - aye, our forefathers were virtuous indeed wet your whistle, traveler, and tell your tale x may have marked some spot, gnard added drily, not this one you trifle with me, sir zero. the probability is zero. not one in a trillion, not one in a trillion to the trillionth power. zero as you wish before we declare war on the entire universe, perhaps a brief recapitulation is in order confound the fellow! darl krogar considered his words carefully end this farce now, sire, i beg of you forget you ever knew me get out of town before it's too late, my love