when she had washed and put on her clothes and made herself as pretty as possible; and he led me into the next room.
The girl in this one was sitting on the bed, half-undressed, but she was very slight and much younger, and evidently very much excited, because she glowered at us as if she hated us. The moment we came into the room she went for the gardener, telling him that if she had known it was required to be naked, she wouldn't have come near us. The gardener kissed her at once and told her not to be frightened, that she was pretty sure of winning a prize, and she need not undress. And we went on to the third room.
There I had one of the surprises of my life: a girl stood on the rug near the bed with the color coming and going in her cheeks; she was in her shirt, but with her dress held round her hips. She, too, said she didn't want to strip-she would rather go home.
'But nothing has happened to you,' said the gardener. 'Surely a couple of men to admire you isn't going to make you angry; and that frown doesn't suit your loveliness at all.'
In two or three minutes the wily Italian had dissipated her anger and she began to smile, and suddenly, shrugging her shoulders, she put down the dress and then at once stood up at his request, trying to laugh. She had one of the loveliest figures and faces that I ever saw in my life. Her breasts were small, but beautifully rounded and strangely firm; her hips, too, and bottom were as firm as marble, but a little slight. Her face was lit up with a pair of great hazel eyes and her mouth, though a little large, was perfectly formed: her smile won me. I told the gardener that I didn't want to see any more girls, that I was quite content, and he encouraged me to kiss and talk to her while he went into the next room to see the next applicant.
As soon as the gardener left the room, my beauty, whose name was Flora, began questioning me: 'Why do you choose me? You are the owner, aren't you?'
I could only nod. I had sense enough to say, 'Partly for your beauty, but also because I like you, your ways, your courage.'
'But,' she went on, 'real liking does not grow as quickly as that, or just by the view of a body and legs.'
'Pardon me,' I rejoined, 'but passion, desire in a man comes first: it's for the woman to transform it into enduring affection. You like me a little because I admire and desire you; it's for me by kindness and sympathy to turn that liking into love; so kiss me and don't let us waste time arguing. Can you kiss?'
'Of course I can,' she said, 'every one can!'
'That's not true,' I retorted. 'The majority of virgins can't kiss at all, and I believe you're a virgin.'
'I am,' she replied; 'but you'll not find many in this crowd.'
'Kiss me,' I went on, taking her in my arms and kissing her till I found response in hot lips. As she used her tongue, she asked roguishly, 'Well, Sir, can I kiss?'
'Yes,' I replied, 'and now I'll kiss you,' and I laid her on the bed and buried my face between her legs.
She was a virgin, I discovered, and yet peculiarly quick to respond to passion: an astonishing mistress! She didn't hide from me the fact that, like most school girls in Italy, as in France, she had been accustomed to provoke her own sensuality by listening to naughty stories and by touching herself ever since puberty. But what kept her from giving herself freely was her fear of the possible consequences. My assurances seemed to have convinced her, for suddenly she started up and danced round me in her fascinating nudity.
'Shall I have a prize?' 'The first,' I cried.
'Carissimo mio,' and she kissed me a dozen tunes. 'I'll be whatever you want and cover you with love.'
Our talk had gone on for perhaps half an hour, when a knock came at the door, and the gardener came in to find us both quite happy and, I think, intimately pleased with each other. He said, 'The other two you had better see or they will be disappointed, but I think you have picked the prettiest.' 'I am quite content,' I replied, 'to rest on your approval of them.' But my selfwilled beauty said, 'Let us go and see them; I will go with you,' and we went into the next room, said a few flattering things, and went on to the fifth room, where there was a girl who said she wouldn't undress.
'At any rate,' said the gardener, 'the matter is settled; we can all go in and have lunch, and then my master will give the prizes.'
We had a great lunch, all helping each other and ourselves, and when the champagne was opened, every one seemed to enjoy the feast infinitely. But when the prize giving came, I was ashamed, hating to give one less than the other, so I called the gardener to one side and told him my reluctance.
'Nothing easier,' he said. 'I have made you out to be a great English lord. Go into that bedroom on the right and I will send them in one by one. If I were you, I would give the two first prizes and I will give the consolation stakes.'
'Splendid,' I said, 'but give me a reasonable half-hour before sending in the second one.' Flora came in and got her first prize, kissed me, and offered herself to my desire by opening the bed. Then for some reason or other a good idea came into my head.
I put up my hands. 'That's for later, I hope,' I exclaimed. 'It means affection, and you don't care for me yet; perhaps you will with tune, and if you don't, I'll forgive you. There's no compulsion here.'
'How good of you,' she exclaimed. 'Just for saying that I want to kiss you, caro mio (you dear),' and she threw her arms round my neck and gave me a long kiss.
Naturally, I unproved the occasion, and turned the kiss into an embrace by putting my hands up her dress on her sex. After I had touched her for a minute or so, she trembled and came, and as I put my arms round her and kissed her, she kissed me passionately in return. 'Carissimo mio,' she murmured, and hid her glowing cheek on my neck. While she was putting her dress in order before the glass, she began talking quickly: 'You know, I hope this isn't the only time. I want to come back without any prize, for I like you and you have been kind to me. I was frightened at first-you must forget all that; you will, won't you? Cuore mio; I'll find new love names for you,' and she did.
'But why did you want to see us all naked,' she went on, 'we're all alike, aren't we?'
'No, indeed,' I cried, 'you are all different.'
'But you can't love one because her breasts are smaller than another's. No woman would care for such a thing. I love your voice and what you say and your eyes, but not your legs: fancy!' and she laughed aloud.
Finally she said, 'When may I come again? soon, please!'
'Surely,' I replied, 'when will you come? I want your photograph.'
'Any day you like,' Flora said. And we fixed the meeting for Tuesday. She went off delighted.
The next girl who came in was the young girl, the second we saw, who had not undressed and who had declared that she wouldn't have come if she had known the conditions. At once she said to me: 'I don't mind undressing for you: I know you now,' and in a trice she had pulled her things off: she was very pretty. I afterwards photographed her in the swing in the garden. But she was nothing astonishing, just a very pretty and well-made girl of sixteen.
Her name, she told me, was Yolande; she lived with an aunt. I may have more to tell of her later, though her quick temper made me avoid her.
When I gave her the second prize of seventy-five francs, she said, 'You are giving me the second prize; if I had been nicer you perhaps would have given me the first.'
Her frankness amused me. 'Does it make much difference to you, the difference between seventy-five and one hundred francs?'
She nodded her head: 'It will make a difference to my dress,' she said. 'I want pretty underthings'-and she curled up her nose.
'Well,' I replied, 'say nothing about it, and take another twenty-five francs.'
At once she threw her arms around my neck and kissed me, and then, 'May I come back?'
'Sure, sure,' I replied.
'May I bring some one else?'
'Any one you please,' I said.
That is about all I remember of the first seance, except that the beauty, Flora, whom I have tried to describe, did not leave the villa till long after dinner.
When I talked with my gardener of the event afterwards, he told me that he had preferred the youngest of all, whom I had not seen. 'Clara,' he said, 'was the prettiest of the lot.' As I told him I thought her too thin for beauty and too young to be mentally attractive, be promised to show me her nudity the next Sunday. I wanted to know about the next Sunday. 'Will you be able to get three or four new girls?'
