ting very near his Fixed Period, and
it occurred to me to ask myself questions as to what might be the
daughter's wishes. It was the state of her feelings rather that would
push itself into my mind. Quite lately he had said nothing about
it,--nor had she. On that Sunday morning when he and his girl were
at church,--for Crasweller had stuck to the old habit of saying his
prayers in a special place on a special day,--I had discussed the
matter with young Grundle. Nobody had been into the college as yet.
Three or four had died naturally, but Crasweller was about to be
the first. We were arranging that he should be attended by pleasant
visitors till within the last week or two, and I was making special
allusion to the law which required that he should abandon all control
of his property immediately on his entering the college. "I suppose
he would do that," said Grundle, expressing considerable interest by
the tone of his voice.

"Oh, certainly," said I; "he must do that in accordance with the
law. But he can make his will up to the very moment in which he is
deposited." He had then about twelve months to run. I suppose there
was not a man or woman in the community who was not accurately aware
of the very day of Crasweller's birth. We had already introduced the
habit of tattooing on the backs of the babies the day on which they
were born; and we had succeeded in operating also on many of the
children who had come into the world before the great law. Some there
were who would not submit on behalf of themselves or their children;
and we did look forward to some little confusion in this matter. A
register had of course been commenced, and there were already those
who refused to state their exact ages; but I had been long on the
lookout for this, and had a little book of my own in which were
inscribed the "periods" of all those who had come to Britannula with
us; and since I had first thought of the Fixed Period I had been very
careful to note faithfully the births as they occurred. The reader
will see how important, as time went on, it would become to have an
accurate record, and I already then feared that there might be some
want of fidelity after I myself had been deposited. But my friend
Crasweller was the first on the list, and there was no doubt in the
empire as to the exact day on which he was born. All Britannula knew
that he would be the first, and that he was to be deposited on the
13th of June 1980. In conversation w