“I dare say so,” said Trudi.

“Even if one of them said that she was going to eat you?” asked Murray.

“Oh Murray, come on. Please don’t start that again. How many times are we going to go through this?” said Trudi.

“I’m sorry if I’m annoying you. But I’d honestly still really like to know,” said Murray.

“I’d be in the cage then, and I’d know I was going to be eaten at some point in the near future. I’d enjoy at least one of my last days, by getting my money’s worth out of eating you first. And I suppose, if the giantess came and ate me only a few minutes later, you’d have been eaten by both of us ... effectively, anyway, even if she knew nothing about it,” said Trudi, “So you see, I’d be making the most of being on both sides of the argument.”

“That’s quite a way of putting it,” said Murray.

When she took him back to her California Hills home, he found the spacious layout and inner decor even more impressive than the Irish property which had played home to their two earlier games of pursuit. She didn’t even tell him where she put the telephone after unplugging it, and he knew it would be a waste of time to even think about it. Her agent didn’t call at all, and she expected to have the whole two weeks free to spend with him. She did make one telephone call to Pandora, and invited her over to meet Murray and hear the story of her having recaptured him.

Soon they were all seated around, or in his case, on the table, talking. Murray found Pandora to be likeable and pleasant, with the knowledge that she was highly supportive of Trudi’s endeavours.

“Some time after this, when you take another trip to Ireland, I’d like to go with you,” said Pandora, “Think what it’d be like for us to hunt leprechauns and eat them together.”

“We might never catch any,” said Trudi, “Now that I think of the warning I gave to Rinkella. They’ll be far more cautious about coming out of their city.”

“Do you think they’ll hold it against Rinkella for luring Murray into your trap in the meadow?” asked Pandora.

“If she thinks they would, she probably won’t have told them anything about it, and left them guessing why Murray had gone missing,” said Trudi, “If she thinks they’d value her safety over Murray’s and support her decision to set him up, then she’ll tell them, and maybe they’ll be understanding about it. I’m going to brew another pot of herbal tea. Do you want any more?”

“I’m alright,” said Pandora, “You go ahead.”

Trudi walked into the kitchen.

“So you persuaded her to come and look for me then,” said Murray.

“I hope you’re not mad at me about that,” said Pandora, “You should have seen the look in her eyes for weeks before I asked her to tell me what was on her mind all that time.”