rt it after he had got Curtis back into the house.

Curtis was easy to arouse and didn't seem to miss Schaughtowl. Stern
maneuvered him to the living room, where he sank into a chair and fell
into his mood of abstraction.

Beryl must be in the kitchen cleaning up, Stern supposed. Perhaps he had
better put some kind of germicide on his palm, just to ward off
infection.

* * * * *

He looked at Curtis relaxed in the chair. Clyde suddenly appeared oddly
boyish to him, hardly different than he had been in college days. For a
moment Stern felt again the adolescent admiration and fellowship he had
felt so strongly then. Don't be stupid, he told himself angrily. This
man had the money and the woman that had almost belonged to him.

* * * * *

Moving slowly, Stern deliciously savored the aroma of his triumph. On
the table was the bottle. Clyde would be easy, unsuspecting, kindly.

It wouldn't be safe to marry Beryl right away, but there could never be
any suspicion.

No need to hurry. For a moment he wanted to watch Curtis. He wondered
what kind of pictures Clyde was seeing on the blank wall. Martian
landscapes? The strange Ladonai? Too bad he hadn't stayed on Mars. Stern
couldn't help having a friendly feeling for his old college chum, pity,
too, for what must happen to him soon.

This was no way to kill anyone!

He was growing old and soft!

Nevertheless, Curtis _did_ have a noble and striking face. Funny he had
never noticed it before. It seemed to glow with an uncanny peace.

Unnoticed, the numbness crept from Stern's palm along his right arm, and
a prickly sensation appeared in his right leg.

It was funny to read a person's thoughts like this. Love flowed from
Curtis like the warm glow from a burning candle. A sort of halo had
formed from the light above his head.

Symbolic.

From Curtis came wave after wave of love. He could feel it pulsating
toward him, and he felt his own heart turn over, answer it. Yes, Curtis
was noble.

Stern sank cross-legged on the floor beside Curtis and gazed at him. The
prickly sensation had ascended from his leg up through his chest and to
his neck. But it didn't matter. Now, for a last time, he could feel the
spell of that perfect friendship--before the end.

What end? Why should there be any end to this eternal moment?

Curtis noticed him now. Those half-closed eyes were strangely
penetrating. They looked hi