I shall require that you leave us.” Colonel Birch dropped his hand “My apologies, Miss Philpot The discovery of fossils excites me in ways I find hard to control.” “Control it you must, sir, or you will lose the privileges you seek.” He nodded and fell back to a respectful distance We walked in silence for a time But Colonel Birch could not be quiet for long, and soon he and Mary were lagging behind while he asked her about the fossils she preferred, her method of hunting, even her thoughts on what the ichthyosaurus was “I don’t know, sir,” she said of her most spectacular find “It seems the ichie’s got a bit of crocodile in it, some lizard, some fish And a bit of something all its own That’s what’s difficult, that bit How it fits in.” “Oh, I expect your ichthyosaurus has a place in Aristotle’s Great Chain of Being,” Colonel Birch said “What’s that, sir?” I tutted She didn’t need him to explain it, for I had described the theory to Mary myself She was flirting with him Of course he loved telling her what he knew Men do “The Greek philosopher Aristotle suggested that all creatures could be placed along a scale, from the lowest plants up to the perfection that is man, in a chain of creation So your ichthyosaurus may fall between a lizard and a crocodile in the chain, for instance.” “That is very interesting, sir.” Mary paused “But that don’t explain about the bit of the ichie that’s like nothing else, that don’t fit in with the categories Where does that fit in the chain, if it’s different from everything else?” Colonel Birch suddenly stopped, squatted and picked up a stone “Is this— Oh, no, it’s not My mistake.” He threw the stone into the water I smiled He might dazzle with his handsome head of hair, but his grasp of knowledge was superficial, and Mary had picked it apart “What about you, Miss Philpot? What do you like to collect?” In two lively steps Colonel Birch had caught up with me, escaping Mary’s awkward question I did not want his attention, for I was not sure I could bear it, but I could not be impolite “Fish,” I answered as briefly as I could “Fish?” Though I did not want to converse with him, I could not help showing off a bit of my knowledge “Primarily Eugnathus, Pholidophorus, Dapedius, and Hybodus—the last is an ancient shark,” I added as his face went blank at the Latin “Those are the genus names, of course The different species have not yet been identified.”