Jubal Harshaw—Jill Boardman

Jubal Harshaw and Jill Boardman form a relationship built on shelter, bluntly stated boundaries, and practical mutual commitment. Harshaw’s initial welcome does not make him an advocate for the cause Jill brings with her; instead, their bond takes shape as he offers her a place in his household, refuses to turn that help into a debt, and eventually gives her paid work connected to Valentine Michael Smith’s Martian language.

Shelter Without Advocacy

When Jill worries that she is imposing on Harshaw, he answers that she has already done so, but immediately makes clear that this is not a reason for her to leave. His house regularly receives people who come and go, he says, and one family once stayed seventeen months. The important qualification is that nobody imposes on him against his will: his hospitality is something he chooses, not an obligation Jill can claim or a debt he silently expects her to repay.

That distinction also sets limits on what his welcome means. Jill hopes Harshaw will help secure Smith’s rights, partly because Ben Caxton seemed to expect it. Harshaw likes Ben but says Ben cannot speak for him. He dismisses Smith’s claim to Mars as lawyers’ hogwash and says he has no interest in the wealth expected to come to Smith. The offer of a home, then, is not an endorsement of Jill’s political or legal purpose. Harshaw separates personal kindness from the cause she wants him to take up.

His manner makes that separation deliberately uncomfortable. He tells Jill she may stay if she proves useful as well as ornamental, mixing the promise of continued shelter with teasing that treats her as both a guest and a person expected to contribute. The exchange is not a simple conversion of hospitality into service: Harshaw has already insisted that he acts because he wants to, and Jill’s place in the household rests on his choice rather than a claim of repayment.

Refusing the Language of Debt

Harshaw makes the terms of their relationship explicit when he stops Jill from continuing to behave as nastily as he does. He tells her she is not in his debt, arguing that he cannot have made her indebted because he never does anything he does not want to do. He extends the principle to people generally, but emphasizes that he is unusually conscious of his own choice. Jill, in his view, must not invent an obligation where none exists.

His objection reaches beyond money or a favor owed. Harshaw warns that gratitude can become the first step toward moral degradation, and calls it a euphemism for resentment. The provocative formulation is characteristic of his sharp, self-protective wit, but it also clarifies the practical ethic he is offering Jill: she should not translate his freely chosen help into a burden that distorts their relationship. He says resentment from most people does not bother him, while resentment from pretty young women does; the joke makes the lecture personal without withdrawing its seriousness.

Jill bites her lip and then grins at his use of Smith’s word grok, admitting she is not sure what it means. Harshaw says he does not know either, but intends to keep learning from Smith. Their brief exchange turns his admonition into something less like a formal rule and more like a conversation between people who can tease one another. Jill does not answer with solemn gratitude; she meets his performance with humor, preserving her independence inside the relationship he is defining.

Work and a Shared Household

The relationship changes when Harshaw proposes a concrete role for Jill. After Smith offers to teach her his language, Jill says that speaking it hurts her throat. Harshaw calls that a silly excuse, then recognizes that the difficulty gives him a reason to put her on the payroll. He doubts Bethesda will take her back, and appoints her his staff research assistant for Martian linguistics, including whatever other duties may be necessary.

The appointment puts their household arrangement on a more formal footing. Harshaw tells Anne to add Jill to the payroll and ensure that the payment is entered in the tax records. Anne points out that Jill has already been doing her share in the kitchen since the day after she arrived and asks whether the employment should be backdated. Harshaw shrugs off the administrative detail. The exchange shows that Jill’s contribution has already been part of daily household life; the new position names and pays for work she has in practice begun to do.

Harshaw’s offer also responds to Jill’s precarious position rather than merely assigning her a task. He expects that Bethesda will not take her back, and the job gives her a means of staying and participating in the household’s work. At the same time, he does not present employment as the price of her original welcome: he had already told her she could stay, while the payroll appointment creates a distinct, practical arrangement around her work and Smith’s language.

Jill’s Acceptance and Smith’s Offer

Harshaw presses Jill to take the job by returning her own question about gratitude: does she accept it or not? His insistence makes the offer a test of whether she can receive help without turning it into an indebtedness she must resist. Jill bites her lip before answering. She accepts, addresses him as Boss, and adds that she will learn the language just to spite him. Her response combines compliance with a playful declaration that the decision is hers.

Smith then reaches out timidly and touches Jill’s hand, telling her he will teach. Jill pats his hand and thanks him before turning back to Harshaw with her promise to learn. This brief exchange places the employment in the relationship among all three of them: Harshaw makes the work possible, Smith supplies the language instruction, and Jill accepts both without surrendering her capacity to answer in her own irreverent way.

The bond between Harshaw and Jill therefore rests on a balance rather than a simple benefactor-and-dependent arrangement. He controls the offer of shelter and work, but insists that neither creates a debt; she accepts what he provides, contributes to the household, and meets his authority with humor. The hiring gives that uneasy, teasing connection a durable form: Jill remains in Harshaw’s home as a paid research assistant, with Martian linguistics as her stated work and Smith as her teacher.