We emerged at the bottom of the stairs. “I must say,” said the constable in a low voice, “that I was delighted to see you inviting the chaplain to your chambers last night.” He glanced about quickly to make sure we were not overheard. “I hadn’t wanted to say anything at first, but there had been a certain-tension between him and your predecessor, and when we hired a new wizard one of the things I had been hoping was that that might be resolved. Your predecessor really was an excellent wizard, and I wouldn’t want to be thought to speak ill of him, but in a small kingdom one doesn’t need these petty enmities. That’s why I knew you wouldn’t mind being brought breakfast in plenty of time to get to service.”

“Of course not,” I said noncommittally. I really was going to have to meet the old wizard.

The constable started to turn away. “Oh, just one thing,” I said, and he turned back at once. “Where do you get the Sunday paper around here?”

He looked surprised. “We don’t get the Sunday paper. We don’t get papers at all in Yurt.”

“But your ad for a wizard was in the Sunday paper.”

“Yes, that. The queen had brought a copy back from her last trip to the City, so we had the address to which to write. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

He walked briskly away. “Well,” I said determinedly to myself, “if I’m not going to waste half the morning reading the color supplements, maybe I can see if there’s anything in any of my books about telephones.”

With my casements wide open and red and white climbing roses peeking in, I settled myself in the most comfortable chair in my study and put my feet up. Thaumaturgy A to Z had nothing to offer, but the first volume of Ancient and Modern Necromancy, the volume I had never looked at it because most of it was just a history of wizards and wizardry, gave a brief description of the discovery of telephones. “The person’s voice actually enters the flow of magic. The spells attached to each telephone find the voice’s way through magic’s four dimensions, so that even a person without magic skills can operate it. All he has to do is to speak the name attached to the telephone instrument with which he wishes to communicate, and that instrument’s bell will ring, summoning someone to answer.”