"Abby, how are you?" Dr. Gower said warmly, at her approach.
"Very well, thank you, Tom," Abby said. "I thought I might have to get sick to see you."
"I was busy," he explained. "The colonization of space brings up a great many new medical problems. How's Linda?"
"Fine. I'm afraid, she's beginning to have a slight case of puppy love; I'm sure it can be discouraged in time, though."
Dr. Gower hesitated. Then he said, "Linda's a normal young girl, Abby. You can't stifle her natural desires forever."
"I not only can, but I will." To cushion the harshness of the statement, she added, "At least until she's mature enough to decide these things for herself. She's still a child."
"A great many women get married at eighteen," Dr. Gower pointed out. "Physically, it's a good age for marriage, and a psychology going against the physical grain isn't going to help."
"There are such things in life, Dr. Gower," Abby said a bit coldly, "as moral considerations. We're not animals, you know."
"It might help sometimes," Dr. Gower mused, "if there were a little more animal in us and a little less so-called human."
Abby found her enthusiasm for seeing Dr. Gower ebbing, being replaced by what she considered a justified annoyance. Dr. Gower knew her feeling about Linda. Something seemed to have changed his tactics. She did not like the change.