lo...."

"Don't do it, boy. If the time ever comes when _you_ go so soft on me as
to quit laying it on the line and start sifting out your language...."
Garlock paused. For one of the very few times in his life, he was at a
loss for words. He thrust his hands into his pockets and shrugged his
shoulders. "Hell, I don't want to get maudlin, either ... so ... well,
how many men, do you think, could have gone the route with me on this
hellish job without killing me or me killing them?"

"Oh, that's not...."

"Lay it on the line, Jim. I know what I am. Just one. You. One man in
six thousand million. Okay; how many women could live with me for a year
without going crazy?"

"Lots of 'em; but, being masochists, they'd probably drive _you_ nuts.
And you can't stand 'stupidity'; which, by definition, lets _everybody_
out. Nope, it's a tough order to fill."

"Check. She'd have to be strong enough and hard enough not to be afraid
of me, by any trace. Able and eager to stand up to me and slug it out.
To pin my ears back flat against my skull whenever she thinks I'm off
the beam. Do it with skill and precision and nicety, with power and
control; yet without doing herself any damage and without changing her
basic feeling for me. In short, a female Jim James Nine."

"Huh? Hell's blowtorches! You think _I'm_ like Belle Bellamy?"

"Not by nine thousand megacycles. Like Belle Bellamy could be and should
be. Like I hope she will be. I'd have to give, too, of course--maybe we
can make Christians out of each other. It's quite a dream, I admit, but
it'll be Belle or nobody. But I'm not used to slopping over this
way--let's go."

"I'm glad you did, big fellow--once in a lifetime is good for the soul.
I'd say you were in love with her right now--except that if you were,
you couldn't possibly dissect her like a specimen on the table, the way
you've just been doing. Are you or aren't you?"

"I'll be damned if I know. You and Brownie believe that the poets'
concept of love is valid. In fact, you make a case for its validity. I
never have, and don't now ... but under certain conditions ... I simply
don't know. Ask me again sometime; say in about a month?"

"That's the surest thing you know. Oh, _brother! This_ is a thing I'm
going to watch with my eyes out on stalks!"

* * *

For the next week, Belle locked her door every night. For another few
nights, she did not lock it. Then, one night, she left it ajar.