so grateful to Rockford for what was
only a cold-blooded pretense of friendship, and the dislike for Rockford
increased. He could not force himself to speak civilly of Rockford so he
changed the subject:

"I understand you wanted to talk to me about the Space Guard?"

"Yes. Even a neutral world can't feel safe these days and George
suggested that."

"I'll be glad to help all I can. Of course, the change will require
time."

"I can understand that. They say you Space Patrol officers begin
training at sixteen, after passing almost impossible qualification
tests."

"The tests can seem extremely difficult to a farm boy from Kansas. I--"

"Kansas?" Her eyes lighted with interest. "My grandmother was from
Kansas! She used to tell me about the green plains of grain in the
spring, and how different they were from the deserts of Vesta...."

It was almost noon when he took her hand and helped her to her feet,
realizing guiltily that they had talked all morning without ever getting
back to the cold, dry facts of military efficiency.

"It was nice to talk up here this morning," she said. She looked down at
the cabins and the shadow fell again across her face. "But nothing down
there has been changed by it, has it?"

He held to her hand longer than was necessary as they went down the
steep part of the hill. She did not seem to mind.

When they reached her cabin she said, "It's still a little while until
lunch--time enough for you to give me a rough outline of the Space Guard
change."

Everything inside the cabin was feminine. None of Narf's possessions
were visible. There was a heavy door leading into Narf's half of the
cabin, with a massive lock. Hunter wondered if it was left unlocked at
night, thought of Narf's sour face and leering little eyes, and found
the thought repulsive.

The answer to his conjecture came with the entrance of a servant as they
seated themselves.

"By your leave, your highness," the servant said, bowing, "I came to
make Lord Narf a key for that inner door."

"A key?" There was alarm in her tone. "But we're not married--not yet!"

A puzzled expression came to the man's face. "Lord Narf told me, your
highness, that you had ordered the duplicate key made and given to him
before evening. I found I could not do this without first borrowing your
key for a pattern."

There was a frightened look in her eyes as they went to the door and
back to the servant. "_No_ ... don't try to make a key!"