Selo was a waitress in one of the cheap Venusian restaurants that dotted the boundary between the old city of Athens and the new. Her uncle, a vicious-looking old fellow with beetling brows, broken nose and protruding teeth, was the proprietor of the place, and, in his unoccupied moments, which were many, he did what he could to make life miserable for the girl.

The moment that Yancey saw her he felt a quickening of his desire. The girl was young. Not more than seventeen or eighteen earth years of age, and despite her wretched clothes she had a distinctive kind of beauty. She lived in constant fear of her uncle, doing her heavy work in the restaurant with the deft but lifeless efficiency of an automaton.

It was apparent to Yancey that it was only a matter of time until someone recognized the girl's potentials and took her away. He could find no reason why he shouldn't be her discoverer.

She was terribly frightened and shy at first. That an earthling should be kind to her seemed beyond her comprehension. Then, once she saw Yancey was serious in his advances, she was certain her uncle would find her out and punish her.

On the fourth night of his visit to Athens, Yancey persuaded Selo to meet him after the restaurant closed. When she slipped furtively out of the shadows to seek haven in his arms he knew that he could not return to the humidi-hut alone. With this woman to care for him he could search for the quollas with new eagerness. She would put an end to the terrible loneliness.

Of course, he told Selo nothing of what he was actually thinking. If he had she would have been much too terrified to understand. He promised to be kind to her and to protect her from any attempt by her uncle to punish her. He told her briefly of the humidi-hut, of the good food, the nice clothes.

In the end, however, it was not so much the good things Yancey promised as the bad things she had suffered which brought Selo to her decision. Life in the restaurant of her uncle had become unbearable. An escape was offered by an earthling. Earthlings very seldom offered Venusian women such security. She promised to go with him.

Yancey was never sure how the commandant learned of his arrangement with Selo. News travels quickly in the Earth Colony at Athens. No doubt the commandant had his spies. Whatever his methods, he knew—and he was displeased.

"I was beginning to think, Ritter," he said, "that I 

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