ere sure The Belphin was dead and
the others thereby rendered inoperant. "It would spare her a lot of
bother."

"Because she is not The Belphin-slayer," the uncle said, dragging him
out. "Besides, she loves you. Come on, Ludovick, be a man." So they
hauled him off to the wedding and, amid much feasting, he was married
to Corisande.

* * * * *

He never drew another happy breath. In the first place, now that The
Belphin was dead, all the machinery that had been operated by him
stopped and no one knew how to fix it. The sidewalks stopped moving,
the air conditioners stopped conditioning, the food synthesizers
stopped synthesizing, and so on. And, of course, everybody blamed it
all on Ludovick--even that year's run of bad weather.

There were famines, riots, plagues, and, after the waves of mob hostility
had coalesced into national groupings, wars. It was like the old days
again, precisely as described in the textbooks.

In the second place, Ludovick could never forget that, when Corisande
had sent him to the Blue Tower, she could not have been sure that her
secret weapon would work. Love might _not_ have conquered all--in fact,
it was the more likely hypothesis that it wouldn't--and he would have
been killed by the first barrier. And no husband likes to think that
his wife thinks he's expendable; it makes him feel she doesn't really
love him.

So, in thirtieth year of his reign as Dictator of Earth, Ludovick
poisoned Corisande--that is, had her poisoned, for by now he had a
Minister of Assassination to handle such little matters--and married
a very pretty, very young, very affectionate blonde. He wasn't
particularly happy with her, either, but at least it was a change.

--EVELYN E. SMITH

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blue Tower, by Evelyn E. Smith

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