"Of course," Lee slapped his forehead. "Yes, but of course, how could I forget."
"Yes," she answered, "He was made the head of the Braintrust over here."
"What is the Braintrust? What does it do? What am I supposed to do here?" Lee asked eagerly.
The girl's smile was mysterious: "I think Howard would like to explain all that to you in his own way."
"Howard". The word struck Lee like a vicious little snake. Was he a friend, or more than a friend to her? "This is terrible," he thought, "I've been away from normal life for overlong. Must be that I'm emotionally unbalanced. I haven't known her for five minutes. There is nothing between us. I've no earthly right to be jealous; it is absurd, it's mean."
He felt deeply ashamed. Yet as he looked at her he couldn't deny the truth before himself: that he was jealous, that he had fallen in love with a girl who looked like the goddess Diana with a golden helmet for hair.
There was a noise of footsteps on the gravel paths. A man with a portfolio under his arm walked briskly by the stonetable; despite his civilian clothes he had "Westpoint" written all over him. He disappeared through the steel door.
"That was General Vandergeest", Oona said. "Dr. Scriven will see you now; just walk in, Dr. Lee."