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“But on Earth I shouldn’t have to. They were my own people.”

“Aha!” she cried gleefully.

“I mean—well, General Spano said it would be wrong to stoop to hypocrisy to win the friendship of my own people; that, if I did, their friendship wouldn’t be worth anything. You can’t buy friendship.”

“You bought your ulerin. Does it play any the worse because you paid for it? Does it mean any the less to you?”

“What you’re getting at,” he said cautiously, “is that that’s the way to make friends? By being a hypocrite?”

“Was it a sham with the Damorlanti?”

He had to stop for a moment before he could bring out an answer. “It started out as a sham—but I really got to like them afterward. Then it was real.”

“So then you weren’t a hypocrite, Clarey.” Her voice grew more resonant. “Open yourself to people, show them that you want to be friends. Basically, everybody’s shy and timid inside.”

“Like you?” he said, casting an ironical glance at her dress.

“That’s still the outside,” she smiled, making no move to adjust it. “Listen to me, Clarey, and don’t go off on sidetracks: The people of Earth are your own people. Your loyalties have always been with them.”