"Haven't I been alert all the time, sir?"
"Yes! But you've been out here now for three years! Three years. No one can possibly stand it longer than six months. And the fact that you've been here for three years only means some absolutely catastrophic crack-up is being prolonged, built up inside."
"I don't feel a bit different, sir."
"There are subtle ways of cracking up."
"You want me to have some sort of symptom or something?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
It must have been at least another year before Von Ulrich came back to Barton's basketball, triumphantly equipped with new devices, and waving a spacegram in Barton's sleepy face. Barton read it, shrugged, and let it drift to the floor. Von Ulrich tried to control a look almost of fear.
"As soon as the minimum time allowed, she married again," Von Ulrich said. "And you pretend it means nothing?"
"She never did mean much of anything, sir. I mean, she was an interfering kind of woman. She wouldn't let a man live."