"Perfect!" I said, and threw away my cigarene.
"Depart!" I told the robot, who came rolling in.
"But, master, it's the Cha'n of Betelgeuse, Lord of the Seven Planets and the Four Hundred Moons."
"Get dressed, Leda," I said regretfully. "We have company."
I'd never met him, but I knew he was one of Uncle Isadore's best friends and I felt obliged to see him.
The Cha'n had several meals and four cigarenes, maintaining a courteous silence all the while. Then he loosened his belt, reached into his furry pouch and handed me a piece of copper scroll.
It was a check for five million dollars.
"You won," he told me. "Or lost, as the case may be."
I just looked at him.
"I was holding it in trust for you," the Cha'n explained, "in accordance with your Uncle Isadore's last wishes."