"_I think that she ... and I could be ... So happy ... a golden prize.... But ... Oh, the pain!_" And he screamed again, The light died out of his eyes. And Nell stood aghast, to have seen at last The terrible answer bare: The gold of his dream was the glorious stream Of her own bright yaller hair! VII So, stranger, if you should happen to Drop jets in the City of Krull By chance you may meet on a quiet street A man who with movements dull Roams up and down through the little town Like someone bewitched by a spell; And the one at his side, his companion and guide Is the lady once known as Nell. For the woman who made of love a trade And discovered true love too late Has paid at last for the sins of her past With Dougal MacNeer as her mate. Her hair, that was gold, is streaked now with cold White tendrils, but still she sighs And she waits and she prays, through long, endless days, For the light to return to his eyes. For--Man in his lust for raw gold may thrust From planet to asteroid, But the will of the Great Astronomer still Is the Will of the cosmic void. _And whoever shall plot for another's lot, Be he brother or foe or friend, Who seeks his gain of a fellowman's pain Must pay a price in the end._ End of Project Gutenberg's The Ballad of Venus Nell, by Nelson S. Bond