willing to make such sacrifices.'
'I believe in what I'm doing,' Prudence said. 'And it's necessary to know exactly what we're up against. That's why I devote so much time to this filth. Most of the people in my chapter of S.M.U.T. have never even seen this sort of thing. They have no idea of the real nature of the evil they're fighting. By taking the burden on myself, I save them from ever having to confront it. I am strong enough to do this while someone like Peter, say, might be overwhelmed by it. But,' she added, 'you haven't seen anything yet, Mr. Victor. Here, take a look at this.' She brought me another folder.
This one contained printed matter. It was a booklet called
'… Dolly was burning with lust as she looked at the stripling lad,'
'Turn the page! What are you waiting for? Turn the page!' Prudence was taut with impatience beside me.
'I'm just resting my eyes,' I told her. 'This print is so fine, and the light's kind of dim here.'
'Oh. Well, we can fix that.' She clapped her hands twice, and the room was plunged into darkness. 'Oh, dear!' she exclaimed. 'There must be a short circuit somewhere.' She calpped her hands once, and the lights came back on the way they'd been before. Then she reached over her head and clapped again. A reading light beamed down from the wall behind us. 'Do you want to go on?' she asked. 'Or would you rather look at something different?'
'I think I get the idea of this one,' I told her. 'But I'm afraid I don't understand why you're showing me these things.'
'I want you to appreciate the full scope of what S.M.U.T. is up against,' she told me. 'It's necessary if you're to play a major role in our activities. Here, just look at these! Aren't they appalling?'
She took a small box from one of the filing cabinets and handed it to me. I opened it to find a dozen or so wood-carvings inside. They were quite intricate, obviously done by a master, and highly detailed. Each one featured a man and a woman, both naked, in very sophisticated sexual positions.
'These come from India,' she told me, removing one of the little wooden sculptings and holding it in the palm of her hand. 'There are few cultures so depraved as the one from which these items come.' Her fingers trailed delicately over the wooden sex organs. 'Notice that the erotic titillation is accomplished by surpassing reality,' she said, her eyes glittering as she stared at the sculpture, a fine film of perspiration glistening on her brow.
'Surpassing reality?' I shrugged. 'I don't think so, the position is unusual, I'll grant, but quite within the realm of possibility.'
'Do you really think so? Do you really think it's possible for a man and woman to have sexual congress in such a manner?' I noticed that she was surreptitiously clenching and unclenching her thighs as she asked the question.
'Yes,' I told her, and then momentarily changed the subject. 'The erotic titillation you mentioned before? Doesn't it ever effect you? I mean, being forced to spend so much time with the kind of material you've shown me, don't you find yourself responding to it despite yourself?'
'I'm afraid I do,' she admitted, lowering her eyes. 'But I struggle against it. My body struggles against it.'
'And you're struggling right now,' I guessed, aware that the little, secret, rhythmic movements of her hips were making the couch move under us.
'I am. But I always win my struggle, Mr. Victor. In the end my body always finds the contentment of virtue. I always conquer my lust.'
I saw that she was serious. And I realized that she wasn't even aware that when she 'conquered her lust' she was actually releasing it. She didn't admit to her orgasms; she merely had them and told herself they were triumphs over passion. Well, to each his own, I told myself.
'Surely you're mistaken, Mr. Victor,' she was saying now. 'Surely this particular position is unattainable.' She continued bouncing on the couch, seemingly unaware of what she was doing.
'I say it is attainable.'
'Then prove it.' Her tongue darted between her lips as if obeying some inspiration apart from her, an inspiration all its own.
'What do you mean?'
'Prove it. With me. Show me how it's possible.'
'Do you mean -?'
'Certainly not, Mr. Victor!' She actually looked shocked. 'I simply mean that we should assume the position. With our clothes on, of course. Just to see if it really is possible.'
'Okay,' I agreed. 'If that's what you want.' I took the wood sculpture from her and studied it for a moment. Then I set it down on the table in front of the couch. 'Let's go,' I told her.
Prudence stretched out on the couch. I grasped her ankles, and she bent at the waist. I forced her ankles back until they were touching her shoulders. Then I crossed her arms so that she had a hand gripping each ankle and locking it in place.
'Just a minute,' she panted.
I couldn't tell whether she was breathing hard from exertion or excitement. 'What is it?' I asked.
'My suit jacket's in the way,' she said. 'Let me take it off.'
'Okay.' I released her.
She doffed the jacket. The blouse she was wearing under it was very sheer. She must have been wearing a halfslip, because the flesh of her waist was clearly visible. Also, the bra she was wearing was surprisingly frivolous and only doing half the job for which it was intended. For the first time I was able to appreciate that Prudence Highman did indeed have a voluptuous figure. The waist was small, but the bosom was more than ample and firmly molded into exciting twin peaks that quivered and strained with her breathing.
I manipulated her into position once again. Now her skirt was tight over her derriere, which was outlined clearly through the material. I turned around and slipped my ankles into the wedge created by her ankles and wrists. She tightened her grip, and now my ankles were also locked securely in place. Then I sort of folded myself around her, bending at the waist with outstretched arms and slipping beneath her until my fingers were clenching her shoulders from underneath. My nose was buried somewhere in the middle of her back and my voice was muffled when I managed to speak.
'You see,' I told her, 'It is possible. Not the most comfortable position, but it does provide tremendous pressure just where it's needed.' To demonstrate, I moved against her.
I was getting pretty excited myself, and I guess she couldn't help feeling this as I proved my point. But she chose to remain unconvinced. 'I still don't believe that penetration is possible this way,' she huffed. 'Wait a minute and let me pull my skirt up. Then we can get a clearer idea.'
She hoisted her skirt and half-slip over her waist. She had good legs, shapely, with fleshy thighs that were pink from having been rubbed together. I caught a brief glimpse of flimsy, transparent white panties before we resumed the position once again.
'Would you mind unbuttoning your trousers, Mr. Victor?' she asked in a voice that didn't quite manage to remain above it all. 'Then we can be really sure.'
I obliged. Then I wrapped myself around her once again. Only those skimpy panties were between us now. Our flesh burned hungrily as the position we were in mashed it together. And then I felt her eager desire clutching at my