longer and has to get rid of his venom. The two lovers had better things to do than to discuss such a hypothetical subject.
He continued his caresses for a while longer, and, as he felt she was ripe-ready. He lay on top of her and drove his rod into her. She sighed and bit the skin of his neck, and he buried his nose in her scented black hair.
But he could not keep his mind off that girl Hilda. Francesca, after her first fire was consumed and they were both resting awhile, guessed it from the abstracted air on his face.
— What are you thinking of? she asked, frowning.
— What can a man be thinking of who has just fulfilled his duty so gallantly, Choisy answered diplomatically.
— He should think about giving yet another proof of his virility, she said.
— I shall see to that pronto! he retorted.
He ran his lips over her naked flesh which gave little spasmodic shudders of gratification. His lips paused awhile on the rotundities of her sensual breasts and made her nipples grow and tauten, then they went down to the fleshy button and worked on it till the woman moaned and squirmed with intemperate pleasure, and he finished her off with a good fucking that fairly shook her entrails.
One morning, after he had spent a short but momentous time with Charlotte de Ransac, he was loafing in the market part of the town, still thinking of Hilda, when suddenly he spotted her.
She was alone and he grasped this heaven-sent opportunity. He walked towards her and pretended he was meeting her by pure chance.
— Shopping? he asked her pleasantly.
Choisy's mode of dressing being ambiguous, she took him to be a woman and answered:
— Well, I usually leave this sort of thing to my maid, but what about you, are you a good housewife?
— I like good food, he admitted, but I, too, leave shopping to others.
— Funny you should dress a bit like a man, the Polish girl said after a pause, whom are you trying to deceive, my dear?
Choisy was about to clear the misunderstanding when he thought better of it and, in a brainwave, saw how he could profit by Hilda's mistake.
— I think we can get along fine together, he said, winking.
She took Choisy's arm and walked away with him, far from the crowd.
— We are wasting our time in this town, she told him.
— Yes, deliriously so, he answered.
— Do you really think so? I don't. In fact, if I hadn't noticed you in the salon of the marchioness, I would have left town.
— The marchioness? said Choisy, she is as pleasant as she is beautiful.
— Granted, admitted Hilda in a somewhat suspicious tone, but what are you expecting from her? She has a husband and probably a lover as well, although she would never admit it. And the Venetian woman, anyway She shrugged her shoulders, leaving her sentence in mid air and drawing Choisy closer to herself.
— If I singled you out, she went on, it is because of your biting wit. There is no mistaking that sign. I spotted it at once.
They walked on a few steps in silence, then, in a frankly tender voice, Hilda whispered:
— This is neither the time nor the place for confidences. Do come along to my place. I have rented a very nice flat, you'll see. There you can open your heart to me.
Choisy did not say no to that proposal. It fell in admirably with his plans.
Hilda's flat had none of the luxury that distinguished the palatial abodes of Mrs. de Ransac, the marchioness of Rubo or even Francesca, but it was neatly furnished and comfortable.
As soon as they came in Hilda offered Choisy her lips and he kissed her with as much skill as he could master.
Out of a cupboard she took a tray of fruit and bottle of wine.
— I'm sorry I have nothing else at home, she said. I always dine out at the homes of a Venetian woman or another whose sexual habits are old-fashioned and not at all to my liking.
While Choisy was nibbling an apricot, Hilda unfastened her dress.
— What's your name? she asked.
Choisy's quick mind saved him. He chose a name that belonged to both sexes. Being French, he picked the name Gabriel, which sounds the same as its feminine Gabrielle.
— Gabrielle, she pronounced languidly, that's a pretty name. Talk about a laugh-one of the marchioness's guests paid his compliments to me and gave me a date for the next evening.
— And what happened?
— He must have looked a proper fool waiting for me in vain.
— He'll probably try again at your next meeting in a salon.
— He will be as unsuccessful on the thirteenth time as on the first. Look, dear Gabrielle, wouldn't it be a pity to give this to a man?
And so saying, she showed Choisy her bare breast. She had just taken off her chemise and appeared in a very relishing nudity. Her breasts were full and pointed up in a defying manner. At the bottom of her stomach was a little golden tuft on the background of her rosy skin.
Moved by this vision worthy of an artist, Choisy got up and, holding up to his lips the fruit of one of her treasures, he nibbled at it gently while one of his hands roamed at the bottom of her back.
— Gabrielle, Hilda murmured, I knew you would love me.
— More than you imagined… but the decorum — To hell with the decorum! she exclaimed defiantly. But don't stay like this!
Choisy preferred putting off the revelation of his sex. He pushed her towards a sofa and his expert lips started doing their efficient work on her body which was already trembling with desire. After a short stay on the hills of her bust, his tongue's next trip was to the crater of her navel, where it sojourned a while, then kept an important date down under (no offence to the Aussies!).
And, while Hilda was moaning with pleasure under the active working of Choisy's tongue, he took off his clothes without her noticing it. Then he went on top of her and penetrated her.
Hilda uttered a scream of fright.
— But darling, you — Here, take this! said Choisy, pushing it in still further.
She tried in vain to wriggle out of it but, after a few minutes' struggle, she gave in, and she did so with relish, finally realizing that a good prick was better than the best dildo.
After she had come, she felt halfway between shame and sensual gratitude.
— You're nothing but a vile impostor, she growled, and I had taken you for a pretty girl!
— A girl singularly armed.
— Hide that away from my sight!
She turned her back on him, and Choisy was quick to seize the opportunity. He slid it between her thighs from behind and wham! Fick fick Fraulein, sehr gut. Oh, sorry, that's not Polish.
When a Lesbian gives in to a male she feels as if she were raped, and she never admits she gets any pleasure out of it, although she darn well does.
But Hilda was a cut above the ordinary Lesbian. She was charmed to see that she actually succeeded in pleasing a male and she looked at Choisy with spiteful eyes for the lovely surprise he had sprung on her.
For every woman surprise remains an element of seduction which makes her pleasure greater (as the duchess said when the duke went into the wrong hole).
Hilda, lying on the sofa with her senses satisfied yet still aglow, saw signs of weariness in her seducer's face. She understood that he had given himself to her unstintingly and that, to do it again, it would take some doing (oh, dear, what a to-do!).
Smiling, she gently took hold of Choisy's virility which was now soft. And yet, a few moments earlier, it was thanks to that little piece of flesh that she owed the most pleasurable experience of her sexual life. Caressing in her fingers Choisy's thingummy, she reflected that she was holding in her hand the key to a paradise that was superior to that given by the hottest of the female friends she had had.
