\begin{table}%t3 \caption{\label{tab:abspar}Adopted absorption parameters for Sirius~B and HZ~43A. Numbers in brackets are derived from the basic numbers given in the other entries of this table.} %\centerline {\small \begin{tabular}{lcc} \hline\hline Ion & Sirius~B & HZ~43A \\ \hline\noalign{\smallskip} \ion{H}{i} column ($10^{22}$~m$^{-2}$) & 0.58 $\pm$ 0.11 & 0.85 $\pm$ 0.06 \\ \ion{He}{i} column ($10^{22}$~m$^{-2}$) &(0.045 $\pm$ 0.010)& 0.057 $\pm$ 0.002 \\ \ion{He}{ii} column ($10^{22}$~m$^{-2}$) &(0.017 $\pm$ 0.004)& 0.039 $\pm$ 0.012 \\ \ion{H}{i}/\ion{He}{i} & 12.8$\pm$1.4 &(14.9 $\pm$ 1.2)\\ \ion{He}{ii}/(\ion{He}{i}+\ion{He}{ii}) &0.27 $\pm$ 0.04 &(0.41 $\pm$ 0.08) \\ \hline \end{tabular}} \smallskip \par ${{\rm a}}$ EUVE MW, \citet{holberg1998}. ${{\rm b}}$ EUVE LW, \citet{craig1997}. ${{\rm c}}$~HST-GHRS, \citet{hebrard1999}. ${{\rm d}}$ HST-STIS G430L, \citet{barstow2005}. ${{\rm e}}$ HST-STIS G750M, \citet{barstow2005}. \end{table}