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201 THE MYSTERY LINGERS Three days later the French researcher had a telephone conversation with Francois Raulin. Neither of them had heard from Vorilhon, in spite of the latter's assurances that he would turn over the specimen to them for analysis. It was not until March 16 that my correspondent was contacted by an associate of Vorilhon, a man named Dominique Renaudin. He was calling in a certain state of alarm. There was no news of the inheritance, no money, and no further contact with the firm of Theard & Company. The French ufologists decided a little late that it was time to conduct a serious effort to get some answers from the English side. The first order of business was a visit to the offices of Theard, Theard, Smith & Theard, whose address was clearly listed on their handsome stationery. Unfortunately, no telephone number could be found for the firm. The given address, 31 Sussex Mansions, is close to the French Institute in Kensington, but the numbers stop with 29. There is a Teesdale River in Durham County, but did a gentleman by the name of A. P. Teesdale ever exist? Quite a few people would very much like to know the answer to this question. They would also like to know why the attorneys for the alleged estate went all the way to Paris to find suitable candidates, while London is filled with groups doing similar research. Why did they hand over the container to Vorilhon, who was clearly preselected, when the other candidates were in a better position to analyze the talisman and to bring the results to the attention of qualified scientists? Why the elaborate charade of a dinner for fifteen people in a Paris restaurant, and why go through the motions of several formal presentations when it was plain that Rael-Vorilhon would re- ceive the prize? What role were the other group members playing? It seems they were invited purely as fillers, as extras on the stage. The Teesdale inheritance is pure theatre. The restaurant scene could have been dreamed up by John Fowles, the master novelist who has described similar theatre in The Magus, played out in pursuit of the esoteric pleasure of hidden masters. Yet there is an element of absurdity in this affair that is also reminis- cent of the UMMO business and of the whole saucer crash controversy