Toffee smiled the sublimely innocent smile of one of heaven's nicer angels. "Me," she announced, "and you."
"What!" Marc jumped to his feet as though he'd been wrenched by a pulley. "Why you...! What did you tell that old idiot?"
"Nothing really," Toffee said. "I just told him I had a secret weapon, and he assumed the rest. He's including you as a personal favor."
"Dear God in heaven!" Marc yelped. "Let's get out of here before he comes back!"
"Oh, no!" Toffee cried. "I have to wait and see if he could arrange it."
"Come on!" Marc said, taking her by the arm and dragging her out of her chair. "Where'd he go? We'll go the other way."
"I must say I don't understand your attitude," Toffee said woundedly, following him into the entry. "After I worked like a demon to charm the daffy old vulture...."
"Just like a demon!" Marc said hotly. "Exactly like a demon! You take the words from my mouth."
"And I should dip them in cyanide and put them right back!" Toffee said. "I suppose it hasn't penetrated your blunted intelligence that I'm only trying to do something to help save this preposterous world of yours."
"I see," Marc said. "You propose to save the world by ruining me. That makes such brilliant sense it fairly blinds me." By now they had reached the outer hallway and were covering space rapidly in the direction of the elevators.