"You did the right thing."

"Verrick tricked me! He was out of the Directorate completely. I knew somebody was bidding for the Hills. I wanted nothing to do with it—and now look!" Benteley's resentment increased. "Instead of getting away from it I'm where it's dirtiest."

Indignation crept into Davis's tolerant face. "Some of the nicest people I know are Verrick's serfs."

"People who don't care how they make money."

"You want to penalize Verrick because he's a success? He's made this Hill; is it his fault nobody else can operate like he can? There's a natural selection and evolution. Those who can't survive fall by the way."

"Verrick fired our research labs."

"Our? You're with Verrick, now!" Davis's indignation boiled over. "Verrick is your protector and you're stand­ing here——"

"All right, boys," Laura exclaimed, back from her kitchen. "Dinner's on the table."

Benteley pulled up a couple of chairs and sat down moodily.

"Don't look so sad," Laura said to him. "See what you're getting to eat. Aren't you living with Julie any more? I'll bet you eat at restaurants where they serve that awful protine stuff."

Benteley said presently: "When I saw you last you were living in a Hill dormitory. But you weren't married then."

"Remember when you and I were living together?" Laura asked. "That wasn't more than a month."

"A little under a month," Benteley agreed. He relaxed somewhat, thawed by the smell of hot food, the bright living-room, the pretty woman sitting opposite him. "That's when you were still under fealty to Oiseau-Lyre, before you lost your classification."