closeness of communion between man and woman.

How had this exalted condition become debased into the casual association that now existed between the sexes? Debased? That was a loaded term. What was the matter with him? Anne Tabor was a lovely, desirable creature, but no more lovely, no more desirable than a hundred other females he knew.

An odd, almost unique feeling of shame swept over him as his cab sank to the landing strip on Clifford's apartment building. He must conceal his state of mind from Clifford or be judged a complete imbecile.

"Well, Webb! This is a surprise." Cliff's face was entirely without emotion. "Anne! It's about Anne, isn't it?"

"Anne will be fine."

"Good, good! You startled me, standing there in the door like a messenger of doom. I thought for a moment—well, things wouldn't be the same without little Annie, would they?"

They had moved into Cliff's apartment, and Webb shrugged out of his jacket. The spacious quarters and expensive appointments reminded Webb of Clifford's wealth.

"The robot business must be thriving," Webb remarked. "Anne didn't mention such luxury over here."

"The girl is tactful, my friend. Tactful, sweet, intelligent."

Webb looked up quickly. He had seated himself, and Clifford stood before him in a stiff, almost challenging pose. "Am I welcome here?" the physician asked bluntly.

"Certainly, certainly. We'll always welcome you here. Nothing need be changed just because Anne is to have a child. Nothing, that is, except the customary observance of monogamous convention until the child is born and raised."

A pound of lead sagged in Webb's stomach. "Then—Anne has named you for paternity?"

Clifford's slender, well-made body lost itself in the precise center of an over-size chair, he looked at Webb thoughtfully. "Well, practically. We were discussing it the other night when she had the first symptoms of this attack." He rubbed his hairless chin. "Why? Did you especially aspire to the noble station of parenthood?"

The lazy sarcasm was salt in the wound. With difficulty, Webb kept his face expressionless. "When I heard the news, naturally I gave the possibility some consideration. That's why I came over 

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