appear in them before your aunt one day and give her no chance of refusing you. She can't put you back in short dresses afterwards.'
'Oh,' cried Grace, again sitting up in her excitement, 'that would be splendid; wouldn't it cost a great deal? Would you really do it?'
'Of course I would,' I said. 'We will get you the prettiest dresses and hats and everything to match.'
'And a mantle,' she said, 'that makes one look so old. You know I am taller already than my aunt.'
'Sure,' I said, 'and far prettier. Do you know where you will be staying in Paris?'
'Aunt wants me to go to school for one more term,' she said, pouting, 'but I don't want to go. I learn more French in one night at the theatre than in a week at school, and already I know it a great deal better than she does; in fact, they say I speak it rather well.'
'All right,' I said, breaking into French, 'then we will talk French and you must be like a French girl and not say 'don't' at every moment,' and my hand again went under the rug.
She wrinkled up her pretty little nose at me but didn't stop me; evidently the temptation of the dress was working, but as soon as my hand got near the danger point, she said, 'Please, be kind; I want to like you, so be good.'
I said, 'Just one touch and I will.'
'Oh, no, please don't,' she said.
'Just one touch to make sure you are not cheating.'
She smiled, and the next minute I had made sure. But as her face clouded and she drew back looking really hurt, I took my hand away at once and kissed my fingers and thanked her, which brought the smiles back again to her charming face.
If I have not managed to convey the impression of her courage and charm, it is because these qualities at their finest are indescribable: they depend on the eyes and mouth as much as on the varied intonations of the voice, and even on the myriad changes of attitude.
Needless to say, all the way to Paris I took care of the aunt and niece; I brought food and wine into the carriage at Calais and insisted that they should eat, and we all had a very pleasant meal together. The lady told me that she was going to an apartment in the Rue Copernic which I found out was near the Bois, and I arranged to call for them, a few days later, to take them to the theatre.
I said I would find out the best play and call for them on Friday, this being Monday. We became great friends, and accordingly, when we got to Paris, I sent my baggage by a special messenger to the Hotel Meurice, while I drove the aunt and niece in a carriage to the Rue Copernic. When the aunt went in I got the opportunity of telling Grace to come to me on Tuesday or Wednesday, and she said that she would certainly come at eleven o'clock in the morning on one day or the other.
Next morning I got a little note saying she would come on Wednesday, and on the Wednesday at eleven o'clock she came to the hotel. I had everything ready and took her at once to Worth. She had, I believe, one of the pleasantest hours of her life: the woman who fitted her complimented her on her figure, called her 'Madame' to her intense delight, and told her it was ridiculous to wear short dresses with her lovely form, and measured her with the utmost particularity, showing off her hips at the same time, with a side glance at me of complete understanding. She did the same thing when she was measuring her bust and recommending a new corset-maker.
'When should the evening dress be tried on?' I asked, for I had ordered a morning dress besides and one for the afternoon.
'They will all be ready this week; if Madame comes on Thursday morning,' she said, 'I can deliver them by Friday evening; but Madame will have to get the new corsets at once.'
Needless to say, I took her round to the corset-maker, but alas! she was not nearly so complacent. She took Grace into a private room to undress her and I was not allowed in until the corset was fitted, fortunately for Grace, unfortunately for me; but the model of the corset was becoming and Grace was enraptured at the idea of going to the theatre in full dress as a woman and not as a child. When I got into the cab to take her home, she kissed me of her own accord very willingly, and when my hand got naughty again she didn't say anything and left her lips on mine.
'You have closed drawers,' I said, 'you cheat.'
She burst out laughing: 'I wouldn't have let you put your hand up if I hadn't known that.'
Well,' I said, 'at any rate, when the new dress comes home, you must wear the other sort of drawers. You never heard my joke about them?'
'A joke?' she repeated. 'No!'
'The English,' I said, 'talk a great deal about free trade and the freedom of trade with every country in the world, whereas the Americans believe in protection and protective tariffs to favor their own manufacturers.'
'I have heard that,' she said, 'but I don't understand very well what it means.
I hate politics!'
'There was once a young fellow in London,' I went on, 'who made money by selling photographs which showed a good deal of the girls' figures, and so I proposed to him to make two photographs in one and sell them together as Tree Trade' and 'Protection,' the Free Trade girl with drawers on that were open; the girl labeled Protection had closed drawers such as you wear. The jest caught on and he made a fortune out of it and gave me a thousand pounds for the idea. He sold over a million postcards in a month. Tree Trade' and 'Protection,' you see.'
Grace laughed with all her heart and kissed me.
We parted having arranged that I should come early to take them to the theatre, because we intended to dine before the theatre; Grace assured me she would be ready when I called.
I went to the Rue Copernic about six o'clock, and when I went up to the second floor, Grace admitted me herself in full rig, looking ravishingly pretty.
When we went into the sitting-room, the moment the door was closed my right hand went up her clothes to convince myself, and I found that she had adopted Free Trade and was indeed a woman, passionate as well as very pretty. In a minute or two she asked me to stop, but when she kissed me with hot lips I felt able to ask her to come again to the Hotel Meurice next morning; my sitting-room was on the ground floor just by the door on the left and she could come in without being noticed and I would meet her. She promised to come.
We had a great night at the theatre; I took them to see Rejane and they both fell in love with her. The aunt told me when I asked them to supper that I had done quite enough. 'I am sure the long dress was your idea,' she said. I took all the blame of it and said that they looked like sisters now, which won the aunt's heart.
Next morning Grace came to my hotel.
How am I to describe it, those first hours spent with Grace? When she came into my room, I began to take off her cloak while she laid her hat aside, but when I wanted to undo her dress she resisted. In vain I begged and begged: evidently she had made up her mind before coming in, so at length I gave in and kissed her, saying, 'I wanted to see your breasts: I know they are lovely and you won't let me.'
'It wouldn't do you any good to see them,' she said smiling. 'What nice rooms you have here.'
'I always have the same,' I said, 'but never before such a lovely visitor.' Then I opened the door into the bedroom and drew her in. As she looked around curiously, I put my arms round her legs and, lifting her up, carried her to the bed. The next moment I had thrown up her clothes and buried my face between her thighs.
'What are you doing?' she cried, but as I began kissing love's sweet home and the little red button, involuntarily she opened her thighs and gave herself to the new sensations. As I felt her responding, I drew her nearer to me a little roughly and opened her thighs fully. There never was a more lovely sex, and already the smaller inside lips were all flushed with feeling, while soon pearling love-drops oozed down on my lips.
I kept on, knowing that such a first experience is unforgettable and soon she abandoned herself recklessly, and her hand came down on my head and directed me now higher, now lower, according to her desire.
When the love-play had gone on four or five times and I stood up to rest, she said gravely: 'You are a dear and gave me great pleasure, but do you like it?'
'Of course,' I said. 'Even old Montaigne knew that the pleasure we give the loved one is more than that we get,'
'Oh, that's my feeling,' she said, 'but how am I to give you pleasure?' In answer, I took out my sex. She touched it curiously, drawing back the skin and pushing it forward: 'Does that give you pleasure?'
I nodded. 'But this,' and I put my hand on her sex, 'could give me much more; but I don't want to hurt
