seldon said, "wherever do you think wanda got such a notion?"

"come now, hari. she had a salvanian gecko that died, remember? one of her friends had a father who died in an accident and she sees deaths on holovision all the time. it is impossible for any child to be so protected as not to be aware of death. actually i wouldn't want her to be so protected. death is an essential part of life; she must learn that."

"i don't mean death in general, manella. i mean my death in particular. what has put that into her head?"

manella hesitated. she was very fond, indeed, of hari seldon. she thought, who would not be, so how can i say this?

but how could she not say this? so she said, "hari, you yourself put it into her head."

"i?"

"of course, you've been speaking for months of turning sixty and complaining loudly of growing old. the only reason people are setting up this party is to console you."

"it's no fun turning sixty," said seldon indignantly. "wait! wait! you'll find out."

"i will-if i'm lucky. some people don't make it to sixty. just the same, if turning sixty and being old are all you talk about, you end up frightening an impressionable little girl."

seldon sighed and looked troubled. "i'm sorry, but it's hard. look at my hands. they're getting spotted and soon they'll be gnarled. i can do hardly anything in the way of twisting any longer. a child could probably force me to my knees."

"in what way does that make you different from other sixty-year-olds? at least your brain is working as well as ever. how often have you said that that's all that counts?"

"i know. but i miss my body."

manella said with just a touch of malice, "especially when dors doesn't seem to get any older."

seldon said uneasily, "well yes, i suppose-" he looked away, clearly unwilling to talk about the matter.

manella looked at her father-in-law gravely. the trouble was, he knew nothing about children-or about people generally. it was hard to think that he had spent ten years as first minister under the old emperor and yet ended up knowing as little about people as he did.

of course, he was entirely wrapped up in this psychohistory of his, that dealt with quadrillions of people, which ultimately meant dealing with no people at all-as individuals. and how could he know about children when he had had no contact with any child except raych, who had entered his life as a twelve-year-old? now he had wanda, who was-and would probably remain to him-an utter mystery.

manella thought all this lovingly. she had the incredible desire to protect hari seldon from a world he did not understand. it was the only point at which she and her mother-in-law, dors venabili, met and coalesced-this desire to protect hari seldon.

manella had saved seldon's life ten years before. dors, in her strange way, had considered this an invasion of her prerogative and had never quite forgiven manella.

seldon, in his turn, had then saved manella's life. she closed her eyes briefly and the whole scene returned to her, almost as though it were happening to her right now.