era happily. Thera had been a space nurse. "He'll
be on his feet and walking around in a few weeks."

"A man!" murmured Betsy, with something like awe in her voice. "I could
almost believe Herbert brought him here in answer to our prayers."

"Now, girls," said Alice, "we have to realize that a man brings
problems, as well as possibilities."

There was a matter-of-fact hardness to her tone which almost masked the
quiver behind it. There was a defiant note of competition there which
had not been heard on this little planet before.

"What do you mean?" asked Thera.

"I know what she means," said Marguerite, and the new hardness came
natural to her. "She means, which one of us gets him?"

Betsy, the youngest, gasped, and her mouth rounded to a startled O.
Thera blinked, as though she were coming out of a daze.

"That's right," said Alice. "Do we draw straws, or do we let him
choose?"

"Couldn't we wait?" suggested Betsy timidly. "Couldn't we wait until he
gets well?"

Herbert came in with a new thermometer and poked it into the unconscious
man's mouth. He stood by the bed, waiting patiently.

"No, I don't think we can," said Alice. "I think we ought to have it all
worked out and agreed on, so there won't be any dispute about it."

"I say, draw straws," said Marguerite. Marguerite's face was thin, and
she had a skinny figure.

Betsy, the youngest, opened her mouth, but Thera forestalled her.

"We are not on Earth," she said firmly, in her soft, mellow voice. "We
don't have to follow terrestrial customs, and we shouldn't. There's only
one solution that will keep everybody happy--all of us and the man."

"And that is...?" asked Marguerite drily.

"Polygamy, of course. He must belong to us all."

Betsy shuddered but, surprisingly, she nodded.

"That's well and good," agreed Marguerite, "but we have to agree that no
one of us will be favored above the others. He has to understand that
from the start."

"That's fair," said Alice, pursing her lips. "Yes, that's fair. But I
agree with Marguerite: he must be divided equally among the four of us."

Chattering over the details, the hard competitiveness vanished from
their tones, the four left the sickroom to prepare supper.

* * * * *

After supper they went back in.

Herbert stood by the bed, the eternal smile of service on his metal
face. As always, Herbert had not required a direct command to accede to
their wishes.

The m