"That's just it," she said. "You look _exactly_ like I dr-- hoped you would." Then, like she was snapping out of a dream, "Dad wants you downstairs. That is, he said to tell you he would like you to drop into the study if you want to, but also to tell you you don't have to. You're free to come and go as you please. He said expressly to tell you that." She stopped breathlessly, the dreamy stare coming back into her eyes. "Why, sure," I said. "I guess I won't mind dropping into his study--too much." I grinned. "Though I'd much rather ignore him and go out someplace with you." "That's a date," she said softly, wrinkling her nose at me, "after you see dad." We tripped lightly down the stairs hand in hand as if we had done it hundreds of times before. "That the door?" I asked, looking at the one she had ushered me through when I had first arrived. "Yes," she said. I gently disengaged her hand and tapped her cheek with my fingers. Suddenly I took her chin between my fingers and tilted her face up. She looked gravely into my eyes. I bent to kiss her. Her red lips curved to meet mine.... "You stay out here," I said gruffly. I turned to the door. My hand touched it, hesitated, then twisted the knob. On my face was the smile I had practiced. * * * * * Dr. Leopold Moriss was sitting as I had left him so long ago, puffing contentedly on a long black cigar, his dead eyes staring expressionlessly through the haze and streamers of blue smoke. I stepped inside, closing the door behind me. Its click seemed to be the spring that brought him to life. "Well, January," he said like a school teacher welcoming a child who has been down with the mumps, "you're looking better." He nodded. "Much better. I hope you feel better, too." He shot me a questioning look. "Yes sir," I said. "Nothing like getting rid of something," he said. "Getting it off your chest so you can forget it--but that isn't what I wanted to see you about." He leaned forward suddenly. "Is that lipstick?" he asked. "No, tomato juice," I said dryly. He chuckled while I wiped it off. "I'd like you to go over my research with me," he said, reverting abruptly to his school teacher voice. "You're the only living man who knows anything about it other than me. You'd like that?" He looked almost pleading. "All right," I said, shrugging indifferently. "Not exactly keen about it?" he said, chuckling again. "After what you told me I don't blame you. But it'll be good therapy, and with Paula in the background I don't believe you'll have any trouble resisting the temptation to gain immortality in a non-living robot." "Maybe you're right," I said.