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The very last person anyone would expect to be a reat astronaut-martyr, she was a philanthropist, an art collector, a hostess extraordinary, and, everyone agreed, an artistic genius But above all, she was the gentlest and kindest huine

Her husband, William J Lardner, died, as we all know, of the effects of radiation from a solar flare, after he had deliberately reht make it safely to Space Station 5

Mrs Lardner had received a generous pension for that, and she had then invested wisely and well By late e she was very wealthy

Her house was a showplace, a veritablea small but extremely select collection of extraordinarily beautiful jeweled objects From a dozen different cultures she had obtained relics of almost every conceivable artifact that could be embedded with jewels and made to serve the aristocracy of that culture She had one of the first jeweled atches er from Cambodia, a jeweled pair of spectacles from Italy, and so on almost endlessly

All was open for inspection The artifacts were not insured, and there were no ordinary security provisions There was no need for anything conventional, for Mrs Lardner e staff of robot servants, all of whouard every item with imperturbable concentration, irreproachable honesty, and irrevocable efficiency

Everyone knew the existence of those robots and there is no record of any attempt at theft, ever

And then, of course, there was her light-sculpture How Mrs Lardner discovered her own genius at the art, no guest at her uess On each occasion, however, when her house was thrown open to guests, a new syhout the roo color, so, crystalline effects that bathed every guest in wonder and somehoays adjusted itself so as to make Mrs Lardner&039;s blue-white hair and soft, unlined face gently beautiful

It was for the light-sculpture uests came It was never the same twice, and never failed to explore new experiht-consoles prepared light-sculptures for amusement, but no one could approach Mrs Lardner&039;s expertise Not even those who considered themselves professional artists

She herself was charly modest about it "No, no," she would protest when someone waxed lyrical "I wouldn&039;t call it &039;poetry in light&039; That&039;s far too kind At ht verse&039;" And everyone sh she was often asked, she would never create light-sculpture for any occasion but her own parties "That would be commercialization," she said

She had no objection, however, to the preparation of elaborate holograht be made permanent and reproduced in e for any use that ht-sculptures

"I couldn&039;t ask a penny," she said, spreading her arms wide "It&039;s free to all After all, I have no further use for it ht-sculpture twice

When the hologranly at every step, she was always ready to order her robot servants to help "Please, Courtney," she would say, "would you be so kind as to adjust the step ladder?"

It was her fashion She always addressed her robots with the most formal courtesy

Once, years before, she had been alovernment functionary from the Bureau of Robots and Mechanical Men "You can&039;t do that," he said severely "It interferes with their efficiency They are constructed to follow orders, and the ive those orders, the more efficiently they follow them When you ask with elaborate politeness, it is difficult for theiven They react more slowly"

Mrs Lardner lifted her aristocratic head "I do not ask for speed and efficiency," she said "I ask goodwill My robots love ht have explained that robots cannot love, but he withered under her hurt but gentle glance

It was notorious that Mrs Lardner never even returned a robot to the factory for adjustment Their positronic brains are enormously complex, and once in ten times or so the adjustment is not perfect as it leaves the factory Sometimes the error does not show up for a period of time, but whenever it does, u S Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc, always e

Mrs Lardner shook her head "Once a robot is in my house," she said, "and has performed his duties, any minor eccentricities must be borne with I will not have hi possible to try to explain that a robot was but athat is as intelligent as a robot can ever be but a machine I treat them as people"

And that was that!

She kept even Max, although he was almost helpless He could scarcely understand as expected of him Mrs Lardner denied that strenuously, however "Not at all," she would say firmly "He can take hats and coats and store them very well, indeed He can hold objects for s"

"But why not have him adjusted?" asked a friend, once