«No, no, no! a thousand times no!» she cried. «I said if you were with me always, I could do without passion; but this starvation fare once a week! Go, go,» she cried, «or I'll say something I'll regret.
Go!» and she pushed me out of the door, and thinking it better in view of the future, I went. The truth is, I was glad to get away; novelty is the soul of passion. There's an old English proverb: «Fresh cunt, fresh courage.» On my way home I thought oftener of the slim, dark figure of Lily than of the woman, every hill and valley of whose body was now familiar to me, whereas Lily with her narrow hips and straight flanks must have a tiny sex. I thought, «D..n Lily,» and I hastened to Smith. We went down to supper together and I introduced Smith to Kate: they were just polite; but when she turned to me she scanned me curiously, her brows lifting in a gesture of, «I know what I know,» which was to become familiar to me in the sequel.
After supper I had a long talk with Smith in his room, a heart to heart talk which altered our relations. I have already mentioned that Smith got ill every fortnight or so. I had no inkling of the cause, no notion of the scope of the malady. This evening he grew reminiscent and told me everything. He had thought himself very strong, it appeared, till he went to Athens to study. There he worked prodigiously, and almost at the beginning of his stay came to know a Greek girl of a good class who talked Greek with him and finally gave herself to him passionately. Being full of youthful vigor always quickened by vivid imaginings, he told me that he usually came the first time almost as soon as he entered and that, in order to give his partner pleasure, he had to come two or three times and this drained and exhausted him. He admitted that he had abandoned himself to this fierce love-play day after day in and out of season. When he returned to the United States, he tried to put his Greek girl out of his head; but in spite of all he could do, he had love-dreams that came to an orgasm and ended in emissions of seed about once a fortnight. And after a year or so these fortnightly emissions gave him intense pains in the small of his back which lasted some twenty-four hours, evidently till some more seed had been secreted. I could not imagine how a fortnightly emission could weaken and distress a young man of Smith's vigor and health; but as soon as I had witnessed his suffering, I set my wits to work and told him of the trick by which I had brought my wet dreams to an end in the English school. Smith at once consented to try my remedy, and as the fortnight was about up, I went at once in search of a whipcord and tied up his unruly member for him night after night. For some days the remedy worked; then he went out and spent the afternoon and night at Judge Stevens' and he was ill again. Of course, there had been no connection: indeed, in my opinion, it would have been much better for Smith if there had been; but the propinquity of the girl he loved and, of course, the kissings that are always allowed to engaged couples by American custom took place unchecked, and when he went to sleep his dreaming ended in an orgasm. The worst of it was that my remedy having prevented his dreaming from reaching a climax for eighteen or twenty days, he dreamed a second time and had a second wet dream, which brought him to misery and even intenser pain than usual. I combatted the evil with all the wit I possessed. I got Ned Stephens to lend the Professor a horse; I had Blue Devil out and we went riding two or three times a week. I got boxing gloves, too, and soon either Ned or I had a bout with Smith every day: gradually these exercises improved his general health, and when I could tie on the whipcord every night for a month or so, he put on weight and gained strength surprisingly. The worst of it was that this improvement in health always led to a day or two spent with his betrothed, which undid all the good. I advised him to marry and then control himself vigorously; but he wanted to get well first and be his vigorous self again. I did all I knew to help him, but for a long time I had no suspicion that an occasional wet dream could have serious consequences. We used to make fun of them as schoolboys: how could I imagine-but as it is the finest, most highly strung natures that are most apt to suffer in this way, I will tell what happened step by step. Suffice it to say here that he was in better health when staying with me at the Gregorys' than he had been before and I continually hoped for a permanent improvement. After our talk that first night in Gregorys', I went downstairs to the dining room, hoping to find Kate alone. I was lucky: she had persuaded her mother, who was tired, to go to bed and was just finishing her tidying up. «I want to see you, Kate,» I said, trying to kiss her. She drew her head aside: «That's why you've kept away all afternoon, I suppose,» and she looked at me with a side-long glance.
An inspiration came to me. «Kate,» I exclaimed, «I had to be fitted for my new clothes!» «Forgive me,» she cried at once, that excuse being valid. «I thought, I feared-oh, I'm suspicious without reason, I know-am jealous without cause. There! I confess!» and the great hazel eyes turned on me full of love. I played with her breasts, whispering, «When am I to see you naked, Kate? I want to; when?»
«You've seen most of me!» and she laughed joyously. «All right,» I said, turning away,» if you are resolved to make fun of me and be mean to me-» «Mean to you!» she cried, catching me and swinging me round. «I could easier be mean to myself. I'm glad you want to see me, glad and proud, and tonight, if you'll leave your door open, I'll come to you: mean, oh-» and she gave me her soul in a kiss.