Well, Richard was a professional and a gentleman. He would not cry over the inevitable. But one of these days, J swore, he would do something to see Richard get some part of the credit he deserved for all he had done for England. Someday, somehow, if it was the last thing he did.

By the time J reached that thought, he had also reached the end of his cigar. Since he couldn't think of anything else that needed his attention that night, he went to bed.

Blade appeared at the Tower of London promptly at ten o'clock Wednesday morning. To J's eyes he showed no sign of as much as a shaving-nick, let alone having been in a train wreck.

«I gather the doctor gave you a clean bill of health?» said J.

«Absolutely, sir,» replied Blade. «He couldn't find anything except a bit of bruising on the scalp.»

«What about the X-rays?»

«Nothing showed up on those either. It seems I still have the same old hard head.»

«That's good. It would be a trifle on the silly side to have you survive twenty-odd trips and then buy it in a train wreck here in England.»

«I quite agree.» J's words were a monumental understatement. For all his qualities of mind and body, Blade also knew that he was still alive partly because of good luck that could run out at any time. It certainly would be bloody silly to have it run out here in England, when he spent so much time in so much danger in Dimension X.

Blade reached up to press the elevator button. «I see you're wearing a ring,» said J, looking at the raised hand. «Ruby?»

«Yes. Nothing really fancy, though. My father gave it to me when I left Eton.»

«Are you going to try wearing it into Dimension X?»

Blade recognized the concern in J's voice. The older man didn't care very much for anything that increased the uncertainty of Blade's trips into Dimension X. Blade didn't blame him, particularly after the last trip.