Summary

Chapter 4: Scoffer’s Progress introduces Prince Badetona, a member of the Gong of Four. He is described as a reticent mathematical genius” who works as an “internal auditor but with unaudited earnings” (75). Badetona is neither vein nor venal, despite his princely title: “Badetona was genuinely possessed of a retiring temperament. Left to him, he would even have discarded his princely title, but that was now part of his existence, and it also had its advantages” (75). His wife, however, wishes he enjoyed a higher social status than he currently does as his royal line is not slated for any of elevation to power and his career is a relatively modest and unrecognized for someone of his talents and lineage. Jaiyesola sees his promotion as the best opportunity for...