“Be careful, be extremely careful. Acquilla wants you for herself.” “What of it?” I replied, shrugging my shoulders. “After all, Acquilla is a woman of seventy-six and youth must be served!” “True, but Acquilla is implacable and if she even suspected that you were going to escape her--” “Well, even then?” I asked anxiously as Dianne hesitated. “I must tell you all the truth,” said Dianne making up her mind abruptly. “For you should be warned. You see, your arrival has caused a tremendous commotion. For Bogar--for Jacko, you are not like the men of today. You represent another civilization. You are so resplendently what men must have been. And just now that is very dangerous, dangerous to you!” “Why?” “Because in the last ten years, there has grown up a new radical school that is preaching the rehabilitation of men.” “What--Votes for Men?” “Exactly. You see how disturbing your arrival is to the powers that be. You will be brought before the Supreme Council--I know for a fact that already they have been deliberating over your case. Be on your guard when you are questioned--” Dianne stopped and leaning forward plunged her glance into mine. “Be careful for my sake.” “Now you are making love to me, which is contrary to orders,” I said smiling. “But what danger do I run?” “You could be suppressed as a menace to society.” “Murdered, or if you wish, executed?” “Oh, no, but you would be returned to the Frigidrome and sent into another century.” “I see, an ingenious way of abolishing capital punishment.” But despite my bravado, I felt the beginnings of uneasiness. “Is the situation really so serious?” “Yes. For already the male suffrage movement is a problem. Acquilla has tremendous power. She can protect you so long as she is personally interested--” “I understand. To tell the truth, my instincts did warn me.” “You see. Be careful, dear, be very careful.” “Say ‘for my sake’ again,” I said, looking at her boldly, “but drop your eyes as you say it.” Dianne glanced at me in surprise, her glance wavered a moment and then fell away. “What a strange effect you have on me,” she said in a low voice. “Say it,” I repeated insistently as I felt my growing power. “For my sake, dearest,” she said in a whisper. “Ah, my darling Dianne,” I cried, “if only I could jump through space and snatch you up in my arms this very moment.” Dianne raised her eyes and again averted them. “Truly, dear, you have the weirdest effect on me. I have never known anything quite--quite like this before.” “Dianne darling, I promise you that you will know what love once meant between man and woman,” I continued impulsively. “Not your eugenic, cold-blooded matings, but the love that stirs and tortures you, the love that is pleasure and pain, that is madness and ecstasy, that takes its moment and accepts the price, whatever it has to pay.”