He turned to R. Daneel in an automatically defensive explanation.
"Jessie's full name is Jezebel. She is not fond of it and doesn't use it."
R. Daneel nodded gravely and Baley thought: Jehoshaphat, why waste worry on him?
"It bothered me a lot, Lije," Jessie said. "It really did. I guess it was silly, but I kept thinking and thinking about what you said. I mean about your saying that Jezebel was only a conservative who fought for the ways of her ancestors against the strange ways the newcomers had brought. After all, I was Jezebel and I always..."
She groped for a word and Baley supplied it. "Identified yourself?"
"Yes." But she shook her head almost immediately and looked away. "Not really, of course. Not literally. The way I thought she was, you know. I wasn't like that."
"I know that, Jessie. Don't be foolish."
"But still I thought of her a lot and, somehow, I got to thinking, it's just the same now as it was then. I mean, we Earth people had our old ways and here were the Spacers coming in with a lot of new ways and trying to encourage the new ways we had stumbled into ourselves and maybe the Medievalists were right. Maybe we should go back to our old, good ways. So I went back and found Elizabeth."
"Yes. Go on."
"She said she didn't know what I was talking about and besides I was a cop's wife. I said that had nothing to do with it and finally she said, well, she'd speak to somebody, and then about a month later she came to me and said it was all right and I joined and I've been at meetings ever since."
Baley looked at her sadly. "And you never told me?"
Jessie's voice trembled. "I'm sorry, Lije."
"Well, that won't help. Being sorry, I mean. I want to know about the meetings. In the first place, where were they held?"
A sense of detachment was creeping over him, a numbing of emotions. What he had tried not to believe was so, was openly so, was unmistakably so. In a sense, it was a relief to have the uncertainty over.
She said, "Down here."
"Down here? You mean on this spot? What do you mean?"
"Here in the motorway. That's why I didn't want to come down here. It was a wonderful place to meet, though. We'd get together - "
"How many?"
"I'm not sure. About sixty or seventy. It was just a sort of local branch. There'd be folding chairs and some refreshments and someone would make a speech, mostly about how wonderful life was in the old days and how someday we'd do away with the monsters, the robots, that is, and the Spacers, too. The speeches were sort of dull really, because they were all the same. We just endured them. Mostly, it was the fun of getting together and feeling important. We would pledge ourselves to oaths and there'd be secret ways we could greet each other on the outside."
"Weren't you ever interrupted? No squad cars or fire engines passed?"
"No. Never."
R. Daneel interrupted, "Is that unusual, Elijah?"
"Maybe not," Baley answered thoughtfully. "There are some side passages that are practically never used. It's quite a trick, knowing which they are, though. Is that all you did at the meetings, Jessie? Make speeches and play at conspiracy?"
"It's about all. And sing songs, sometimes. And of course, refreshments. Not much. Sandwiches, usually, and juice."
"In that case," he said, almost brutally, "what's bothering you now?"
Jessie winced. "You're angry."
"Please," said Baley, with iron patience, "answer my question. If it were all as harmless as that, why have you been in such a panic for the last day and a half?"
"I thought they would hurt you, Lije. For heaven's sake, why do you act as though you don't understand? I've explained it to you."
"No, you haven't. Not yet. You've told me about a harmless little secret kaffee-klatsch you belonged to. Did they ever hold open demonstrations? Did they ever destroy robots? Start riots? Kill people?"
"Never! Lije, I wouldn't do any of those things. I wouldn't stay a member if they tried it."
"Well, then, why do you say you've done a terrible thing? Why do you expect to be sent to jail?"
"Well... Well, they used to talk about someday when they'd put pressure on the government. We were supposed to get organized and then afterward there would be huge strikes and work stoppages. We could force the government to ban all robots and make the Spacers go back where they came from. I thought it was just talk and then, this thing started; about you and Daneel, I mean. Then they said, 'Now we'll see action,' and 'We're going to make an example of them and put a stop to the robot invasion right now.' Right there in Personal they said it, not knowing it was you they were talking about. But I knew. Right away."
Her voice broke.
Baley softened. "Come on, Jessie. It was all nothing. It was just talk. You can see for yourself that nothing has happened."
"I was so - so suh - scared. And I thought: I'm part of it. If there were going to be killing and destruction, you might be killed and Bentley and somehow it would be all muh - my fault for taking part in it, and I ought to be sent to jail."
Baley let her sob herself out. He put his arm about her shoulder and stared tight-lipped at R. Daneel, who gazed calmly back.
He said, "Now, I want you to think, Jessie. Who was the head of your group?"
She was quieter now, patting the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief. "A man called Joseph Klemin was the leader, but he wasn't really anybody. He wasn't more than five feet four inches tall and I think he was terribly henpecked at home. I don't think there's any harm in him. You aren't going to arrest him, are you, Lije? On my say-so?" She looked guiltily troubled.