The  Time  Vault  was  filled;  filled  far beyond  the  available  seatingcapacity,   and   men   lined   the  back   of   the   room,  three   deep.
Salvor Hardin  compared this large  company with the few  men attending thefirst appearance of Hari  Seldon, thirty years earlier. There had only beensix, then;  the five old Encyclopedists  ?all dead now  ?and himself, theyoung figurehead  of a mayor. It had been on that  day, that he, with YohanLee's  assistance  had removed  the  "figurehead" stigma  from his  office.
It was  quite different now; different  in every respect. Every  man of theCity  Council  was awaiting  Seldon's  appearance. He,  himself, was  stillmayor,  but  all-powerful  now;  and  since  the utter  rout  of  Anacreon,all-popular. When he had  returned from Anacreon with the news of the deathof  Wienis, and  the new treaty  signed with  the trembling Lepold,  he wasgreeted with  a vote  of confidence of  shrieking¹ unanimity². When  this wasfollowed in rapid order,  by similar treaties signed with each of the otherthree kingdoms  ?treaties  that gave the  Foundation powers such  as wouldforever  prevent any  attempts at  attack similar  to that of  Anacreon's ?
torchlight processions had been  held in every city street of Terminus. Noteven Hari Seldon's name had been more loudly cheered.
Hardin's lips twitched³. Such popularity had been his after the first crisisalso.
Across  the  room, Sef  Sermak  and  Lewis Bort  were  engaged in  animateddiscussion, and recent events  seemed to have put them out not at all. Theyhad joined in the  vote of confidence; made speeches in which they publiclyadmitted that they had been in the wrong, apologized handsomely for the useof  certain phrases  in earlier  debates, excused themselves  delicately bydeclaring  they had  merely followed  the dictates  of their  judgement andtheir  conscience  ?and  immediately  launched a  new Actionist  campaign.
Yohan Lee  touched Hardin's sleeve and 

分享到：