The magistrate¹ looked sourly at Seldon as he gave his story.
    The magistrate said, "What makes you think it was the intention of this man you struck to attack you? Did he strike you? Did he threaten you? Did he in any way place you under bodily fear?"
    "My granddaughter was aware of his approach and was quite certain that he was planning to attack me."
    "Surely, sir, that cannot be enough. Is there anything else you can tell me before I pass judgment²?"
    "Well now, wait a while," said Seldon indignantly. "Don't pass judgment so quickly. I was assaulted a few weeks ago by eight men whom I held off with the help of my son. So, you see, I have reason to think that I might be assaulted again."
    The magistrate shuffled³ his papers. "Assaulted by eight men. Did you report that?"
    "There were no security officers around. Not one."
    "Aside from the point. Did you report it?"
    "No, sir."
    "Why not?"
    "For one thing, I was afraid of getting into long drawn-out legal proceedings⁴. Since we had driven off eight men and were safe, it seemed useless to ask for more trouble."
    "How did you manage to ward⁵ off eight men just you and your son?"
    Seldon hesitated. "My son is now on Santanni and outside Trantorian control. Thus, I can tell you that he had Dahlite knives and was expert in their use. He killed one man and badly hurt two others. The rest ran, carrying off the dead and wounded."
    "But did you not report the death of a man and the wounding of two others?"
    "No, sir. Same reason as before. And we fought in self-defense. However, if you can track down the three dead and wounded, you will have evidence that we were attacked."
    The magistrate said, "Track down one dead and two wounded nameless faceless Trantorians? Are you aware that on Trantor over two thousand people are found dead every day-by knife wounds alone. Unless these things are reported to us at once, we are helpless. Your story of being assaulted once before will not hold water. What we must do is deal with the events of today, which were reported and which had a security officer as a witness.

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