There are an inordinately large number of people in Port Naain. A fair proportion of them are in possession of considerable quantities of money. Thus the city spawns numerous individuals whose sole reason for existence appears to be to trick others out of their money.

To be fair, I prefer confidence tricksters to muggers, hoods, leg and arm men, flutterers and the like. Indeed there are small minded degenerates who feel that poets and other artists should be included in the ranks of cozeners and allied trades. Whilst obviously I repudiate this, it does leave the question open, how do you decide who is, and who is not, a swindler?
To make the issue clearer to both of us I will discuss Ballan Zealflurt. He entered Port Naain society accompanied by the delightful Velumina. The relationship between them was never quantified. Ballan already had a wife whom he still lived…