en. When she returned Ronald was
picking up pieces of glass and dabbing at the pool of water with one of
her bathroom towels. Pascal, magnificently aloof, was standing in the
center of the mess.

"I'm sorry." Ronald looked up. "It was my fault. I got confused on the
buttons."

But Corinne's glances toward the rigid Pascal held no indictment. She
was only mystified. There was something wrong here.

"But Ronald, he's so ugly without a head. I thought that all robots--"

"Oh, no," he explained, "we would put heads on them for display purposes
only. Admittedly that captures the imagination of the public. That
little adapter shaft at the top could be the neck, of course...."

He waved Corinne aside and continued his experiments with the home-made
robot. Pascal moved in controlled spasms around the living room. Once,
he walked just a little too close to the floor-length window--and
Corinne stood up nervously. But Ronald apparently had mastered the
little black box.

With complete confidence Corinne went into the kitchen to do the dishes.
Not until she was elbow deep in suds did she recall her dreams about the
octopus. She looked over her shoulder, and the curious, unwanted feeling
came again.

* * * * *

The following afternoon--after Ronald had cancelled their Sunday drive
into the country--Pascal, with constant exhortations by Ronald at the
black box, succeeded in vacuum cleaning the entire living room. Ronald
was ecstatic.

"Now do you understand?" he asked Corinne. "A mechanical servant! Think
of it! Of course mass production may be years away, but ..."

"Everyone will have Thursday nights off," said Corinne--but Ronald was
already jabbing at buttons as Pascal dragged the vacuum cleaner back to
its niche in the closet.

Later, Corinne persuaded Ronald to take her to a movie, but not until
the last moment was she certain that Pascal wasn't going to drag along.

Every afternoon of the following week Ronald Lovegear called from the
laboratory in New York to ask how Pascal was getting along.

"Just fine," Corinne told him on Thursday afternoon. "But he certainly
ruined some of the tomato plants in the garden. He just doesn't seem to
hoe in a straight line. Are you certain it's the green button I push?"

"It's probably one of the pressure regulators," interrupted Ronald.
"I'll check it when I get home." Corinne suspected by his lowered voice
that Mr. Hardwick had walked into the