One hand was groping feebly from its center.
Irene sipped at her coffee, while Peter, sitting across the cafe table, explained to her.
"Of course they didn't have a case against me without evidence, and when all the money vanished, they had no evidence. So they had to let me go."
"But I don't see exactly why the things vanished," Irene said. "What happened to my beautiful dress? That was terribly embarrassing!"
But very beautiful, Peter thought. "Well, as near as I can figure out, this Time Transfer business only works so long as the time field is working. As goon as they shut it off, everything went back to its proper time. All the things we gave them came back to us, and all the money, and your dress, and the other gadgets we got went back to the Thirtieth Century, where they belonged."
"It's a shame, in a way," Irene said. "We could have used that trunkful of money to get married on."
Peter's grin broadened. "Don't worry about that. Remember, Old Man Crabley gave me the right to keep any money that was recovered from Quiggs."
"Did you get it?" Irene asked excitedly. "Did Quiggs tell where he hid it?"
Peter shook his head. "Nope. He didn't steal it. I found the money in that pile of stuff in my office.
"Evidently, Rolath Guelph was trying out his machine and took the bundle of money and replaced it with another bundle of that queer plastic paper of his. When Quiggs sneaked in, he just stole the bundle from the Thirtieth Century and he put a third bundle in. He got all the way to Brazil before he opened the package and found out he didn't have anything."