say they felt his temperament would be better suited to
private practice, and the school could benefit best by simply
accepting his financial contributions as an alumni . . . pre-
ferably mailed from far away.”
I was enthralled by this new insight into Aahz’s back-
ground. However, I could not help but note there was some-
thing that didn’t seem to fit with the record keeper’s oration.
“Excuse me,” I said, “but didn’t I hear you tell Gretta
to look in the dropout file for Aahz’s records? If he was
doing so well, why didn’t he graduate?”
The Pervect heaved a great sigh, a look of genuine pain
on his face.
“His family lost their money in a series of bad invest-
ments. With his financial support cut off, he dropped out
168 Robert Asprin
of school . . . left quietly in the middle of a semester even
though his tuition had been paid in full for the entire term.
We offered him a scholarship so that he could complete his
education . . . there was even a special meeting held specifi-
cally to get the necessary approvals so he wouldn’t be kept
dangling until the scholarship board would normally con-
vene. He wouldn’t accept it, though. It’s a shame, really.
He had such potential.”
“That doesn’t sound like the Aahz I know,” I frowned.
“I’ve never known him to refuse money. Usually, he
wouldn’t even wait for it to be offered … not nailing it
down would be considered enough of an invitation for him
to help himself. Did he give any reason for not accepting
the scholarship?”
“No, but it was easy enough to understand at the time.