Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 67 — page 50: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A WOMAN’S WORK he was a finished product, able and fit to enter on his career. Margaret felt the warmth of success as she looked down at him. Tomorrow he would sit for the exam. He would pass it, and by so doing, pass out of her life. And that was the very thing for which she had been working these past three years. “Get on with your reading, John,” she said softly, and gently disengaged his arms from around her. “Ill make coffee and then you’d better be going. You'll need to be fresh for the morning.” He smiled at her and duti- fully reached for his book, but it was only a gesture because, when she returned from the kitchen with a tray bearing cups and sugar and milk, he was staring at the wall, the pages unturned. “Lazy.” Margaret poured and handed him his coffee. “Still, I suppose that you deserve one evening free. _Too much study can make you stale.” 49 ““Yes.”? Absently he stirred his coffee, drank, and then, to his surprise, Margaret had removed the cup and was urging him from the room. “Off you go, John, and get a good night’s rest.” He nodded, still thoughtful but, as usual, yielding to her dominance. At the door he turned, and holding her arms stared directly into her eyes. “Why, Margaret? Why did you do it?” “Do what?’’ Her voice was sharp with the sharpness of anxiety. ““What are you talk- ing about?’ “Tomorrow I shall sit for the exam,” he said deliberately. “I shall know the results directly after, and you know how they work. If I pass I shall leave at once for Tycho. If I pass I shall never see you again, Margaret. Do you realise that? I shall never see you again.” *““Well?’’ She met his stare, and beneath it his eyes faltered. “That is what you want, isn’t it? That is why you have studied these past three years.” comicloooks.cormn