She politely left them alone, and Cutter sat there, embarrassed faintly, but glad to be in Quay's home and presence. They talked of how it had been, when Quay was with the company, and finally Cutter pushed himself into asking about it:
“I've often wondered, Bob, why you left?”
Quay blushed slightly, then grinned. “I might as well admit it. [49] ]I got one of those things from Bolen, and had it installed in my own chair.”
Cutter thought about it, surprised. He cleared his throat. “And then you quit?”
“Sure,” Quay said. “All my life, I'd wanted to do just what I'm doing. But things just came easy to me, and the opportunities were always there, and I just never had the guts to pass anything by. Finally I did.”
Quay smiled at him, and Cutter shifted in his chair. “The Confidet did that.”
Cutter nodded.
It came to him suddenly, something he'd never suspected until that moment. There was something very definitely wrong with what had happened to him. The Confidet had affected
everyone but him; there must have been something wrong with the one he had been using. It had worked with Mary, but hadn't Bolen said something about the energy being used in proportion to the demand? Mary had certainly created a demand. Bolen said the life of it was indefinite, but couldn't the energy have been used up?
“Ah,” he said carefully, smiling, to Quay. “You wouldn't have it around, would you? That Confidet of yours?”