"She can't be too old," Mattern said. The tridi in his locker was Lyddy, and the picture was young; therefore, Lyddy must still be young.
"She may have married someone else. She may have numerous children clustering about her knee."
"Then I will take her away from her husband and children," Mattern declared. "Can you imagine that a little thing like that would stop me?"
"She may have lost her beauty," the kqyres said. "She may have left Hesperia. She may have suffered a disfiguring accident."
Mattern realized then that Njeri was deliberately trying to keep him from going back to Lyddy. Either he felt that she would interfere with the smooth operation of their business, or he was jealous of a third intruding into their company.
"I have done everything I did for the sake of winning Lyddy," Mattern said, biting off the words. "If all hope of her is gone, then my whole reason for working with you is gone. I will never go back to hyperspace."
"There are other women—"
"Not for me!"
"The business itself means nothing to you?" There was an aggrieved note in the kqyres' voice.