have drawn their numbers from the bowl and put them in their bags, you are put up as a lottery prize. The master of ceremonies starts the wheel, which is decorated with highly colored stripes, and keeps it going till the pointer falls on one of the first five numbers — let's pick three as an example. That means that the lady who has drawn three will be able to do what she likes with you after she has had her interview with gentleman number 3. But the lady in question will, at the moment, as you doubtless realize, know nothing whatever about her luck, and for a whole hour she's the winner. I think you'll admit this little bit of ingenuity does not exactly diminish the piquancy of the situation and you, particularly, will be the gainer. There are two other details I ought to give you for your guidance. It's the custom, if not the rule, for the lady to decide on the degree of intimacy she may wish to give to the tests she will impose on you. These tests may be varied and many, but whatever they are, your part is to obey implicitly. I have known the winner to shut herself up jealously with her prize and remain in complete privacy with him the entire evening. I have known others where it has been her whim to have a circle of onlookers, consisting of either the whole company, a select group of witnesses chosen by herself, or by one individual-her husband, for example.'
“You can imagine, my sweetheart, that by now I was thunderstruck at this inventive proposal and I may add, somewhat flattered that I should be invited to such a gathering. Yet, on the other hand, I had a certain diffidence in a strange country. Though one does what the Romans do, one doesn't care to expose oneself to blackmail or meeting unsavory people.”
Marcia squirmed feverishly on her seat, eyeing him with delight. “Oh, what a charming and original story, my darling. You've got me all excited. Now you just can't stop. You must tell me all- and I do mean all-down to bedrock details, or shall I just say down to bed.”
“Imp, what an atrocious pun, though appropriate. Yes-I'll satisfy your feminine curiosity-but there's that penalty you'll have to pay.”
She blushed furiously, eyes averted an instant, then said, “I'll pay it eagerly in advance without even knowing what it is, but you just must go on.”
He went to her, kissed her creamy throat; she closed her eyes suddenly, caught her breath. The delicate and subtle scent of a Lentheric cologne titillated his sensuous nostrils. The smell of sweet feminine naked skin fresh from the bath, spiced with the ethereal scent of artifice, made his lips quiver with desire. But he forced himself to continue, knowing now her own utter compliance- nay her own spontaneous and imaginative eagerness for their union-and so he resumed, “So, I asked my friend, “Well, then, but why not? Why not keep it all perfectly discreet?'
“'How am I to answer that?' my friend chuckled, his brows arching as if in wonder at the ways of sophisticates. 'Maybe the lady in question doesn't want to appear selfish in keeping the others away from what, out of politeness to our guest of honor, we consider to be the feature of the evening. Or again, when it's her own husband she chooses as witness, the natural thing is to assume that her action is dictated by a wifely thoughtfulness, or again a delicious touch of perverse caprice which will cement their own conjugal intimacy. The affair, you see Mr. Phillips, brings into play a whole scale of the most delicate sentiments, and must not be thought of in terms of mere viciousness. That's why such an evening can be carried through at all, only by persons of taste, imagination, and education and good breeding. Each of us is held strictly accountable for his guests. But to go back to your question, don't forget the assumption that by the time the winner takes possession of her prize, the intimacies of the various couples will have reached a stage of, shall we say, pause. The actors, therefore, will be momentarily at loose ends and grateful for this new distraction and the round of drinks accompanying it. Don't forget, either, that the evening will by then be well advanced, that the restraining atmosphere in which it opened will have become rather oppressive, and that the effect of drinks and other things will have tended to warm people up a bit and so lead to certain infringements of the earlier discipline. As a matter of fact, my dear American friend, I'm pretty sure that if you told the winner that you disliked the idea of being watched, she'd make every allowance for your feelings. But there is something else I must explain.'
“I was, Marcia, by now thoroughly intrigued by this prospect of a hedonistic love-feast. Such, generally speaking, it seemed to be. And my ego as enormously basking in the subtle allusion that I was guest of honor.”
“I don't doubt it, my darling Max, and when you were younger, I'll say this-you were probably-a devastating person even then. I found you so, and you're still young, you know.”
“I shall try to live up to that wonderful testimonial, my dear, and you will have only your beautiful self to blame, Marcia, if at the conclusion of our first night of love, you find yourself somewhat taxed because I try to live up to your glowing words.”
Now the young woman really blushed scarlet and buried her face a moment against his chest. He kissed her hair, his eyes flaming, then composed himself and, slipping his left arm around her soft shoulders, murmured, “And this little nuance now, my sweet Marcia, proves all the more to me how fortunate among men I am to have you for my wife on this magic night. And when we have finished the tour of my magic carpet, as you've so admirably visioned it, this suite will really be even more the site of my most joyous and beautiful adventure, save this difference, it will be for life.”
“Oh, Max-darling,” she breathed and turned her face up to be kissed.
“Now to go on, my pet. My friend, as you know, was about to explain another detail, and I was all attention. He went on, 'The lady in question has a second privilege, against which there is no appeal. When she has had her will of you, she can put you up as a prize in a second lottery for the satisfaction of the other ladies present. She is, in fact, at liberty to give you away, since you are her personal property. In this way, the guest of honor may be made the object of as many as three spins of the wheel. So it's just as well I warned you, isn't it?'
“I said to him, Marcia, “There is one thing I'm not quite clear about. While the first part of the evening is proceeding, while, that is, the various couples are going about their ordinary business, what does the guest of honor do? Surely the time hangs rather heavily on his hands?'
“'Not so heavily as you might fear. We have a little ceremony designed to do honor to our guest, to underline the fact that the possession of his person is something rather special, and this takes the pattern of a sort of ritual toilet. He is delivered to the tender care of a woman-young and pretty, make no mistake about that-who will behave with the utmost correctness. She is not a member of the society, but is attached to it, so to speak, for certain duties. Shall I add only that the choice of this is perhaps of her own nature, for as you know, certain women derive intense pleasure in performing rather servile duties to the male.'”
“Oh, my darling, now you have really tantalized me and I shan't let you evade telling me of those duties either! Penalty or not, in fact, perhaps they'd be a delight for you that-well-you might like me to perform later on, when we are better friends and closer…” Her voice was flurried, soft and vibrant, her eyes deep and luminous.
He couldn't resist kissing her again, with more than casual enthusiasm. Her response, her evident feminine curiosity and her interest in him was overwhelmingly captivating to the ego of the most shallow male, but, sophisticated as Max Phillips was, he understood her sincerity. He would make no rules he told himself, he would let the night unfold its own magic. And he felt sure it would be a night such as he had never known in all his life as a voluptuary.
This paradox of the virgin who was wise entranced him; he had never before possessed such a woman, so young yet so mature.
Then he went on, ardently, holding her right hand in both of his, “You shall learn all those rituals, just as I did, for they were new to me, even if I'd read about them, I dare say, as much as you did. Yet reading, my own sweet, is an ineffectual sublimation when one has as companion such a wonderful, intelligent woman. Never delude yourself, Marcia, into thinking a man is afraid of a girl of intellect; on the contrary, my darling, a man of any wisdom at all realizes that a beautiful girl who desires love has the capacity for it and, if uninhibited and tolerant of mind, makes the most exciting of all lovers.”
She nodded, watching him, her hip pressed against his, and their bodily electricity began its work as stimulant.
He resumed, “Then, Marcia, my friend continued, 'You will be anointed with very rare perfumes and exquisite unguents and you will be presented to the winner, who must be made to feel she is inordinately lucky in her prize. We rely on the absolute loyalty of our guests, of course. He must do his utmost to keep the lady assistant from stepping out of her role, which is at once delicate and strictly limited in extent. Otherwise he'll infringe on the rule and will expose her to severe reprimand. Now, this ritual preparation takes place precisely during the time about which you were speaking. It may very likely last for the whole of it. Should the necessity arise, the master of
