I nodded. "But this," and I put my hand on her sex, "could give me much more; but I don't want to hurt you."
"Why not?" she asked. "I'm not afraid and I'd love to give you pleasure."
"It's only the first time that hurts," I said, "after that we both have the pleasure without pain."
"Is there no danger of a child?" she asked. "I'm ashamed to say that it would not stop me, but I'd like to know."
"No danger," I said, "if I take care."
"I trust you," she said, "my darling," and she gave me her lips.
"Undress," I said, "dear heart; I want to see all your loveliness unveiled, and I'll undress too."
Grace rose without a word and was undressed to her chemise and stockings by the time I had thrown off my clothes. "This naughty chemise," I cried, lifting it up and feasting my eyes on one of the loveliest figures I had ever seen-with small child breasts and great swell of hips and thighs and bottom set off by the smallest waist and perfect small sex-half-fledged-a creature made for love!
I put her on the side of the bed and tried to enter; she was tiny: I could only put in my first finger with difficulty, and even that brought some blood; but by this time my desire was rampant, and she met me by putting up her legs and giving me every opportunity. Soon the head of my sex was in her.
"Does it hurt?" I asked, and Grace's answer was to put arms about my body and legs about my hips and strain me nearer to her.
"One body," she said, "and one soul." The next moment we were coming together and thrilling.
A little pause and I lifted her up and taught her the use of the syringe with warm water, which almost avoids all danger. When I had explained it, she laughed delightedly. After two or three more embraces, she cried that it was getting late and she must get back. As she put on her new corset and the long dress, she exclaimed roguishly: "I deserve the long dress now, don't you think?"
"A dozen of them, you darling," was all I could find to answer. We were in each other's arms all the way to the Rue Copernic. As we entered the house, she turned to me gravely. "An unforgettable afternoon: you are a dear lover and I am proud of having won you."
"And I," I exclaimed, "am humble for the first time in my life-humble with the sense of a greater sweetness than I have deserved. Goodbye, darling, till tomorrow."
"You don't want to see my aunt?"
"No, no!" I said. "I want to keep the memory of you alone and relive every golden moment." Her eyes dwelt on me and she was gone, leaving with me deathless memories and pictures of exquisite loveliness that can never fade.
Why am I able to picture her now after thirty years? I forget nine out of every ten girls I have had in my life: why do I remember the tenth? For something extraordinary either in body or spirit, and Grace is memorable for both-the exquisite girlish figure, the bold self-abandonment, and the divine words of passionate affection! She taught me never to generalize Tennyson's statement in Locksley Halclass="underline" … All her passions matched with mine Are as moonlight unto sunlight, and as water unto wine.
I don't need to tell in detail how I came to know Grace's aunt, Mrs. Sterling, more intimately. It began with her asking me to come to dinner with them and go afterwards to the Theatre Francais. We dined at the Grand Hotel and went on to the theatre, and they were both amazed that I was able to go behind the scenes and visit the green room.
I held forth about Nice and its beauties till Mrs. Sterling said she would like to spend a month there, if I would play guide to them. I declared honestly enough that nothing would give me greater pleasure, and so a couple of days later we were all quartered in the Hotel d'Angleterre, which has since become the Hotel Ruhl, at Nice.
I managed that all our rooms should be communicating and I took the middle room, as I said, to protect them. About one o'clock the first night I entered the side-room where Grace was sleeping. I turned up the light, pulled down the bed-clothes and lifted up her chemise: she was ideally beautiful, and the little silky triangle in front deserved all my attention. Scarcely had I begun to kiss her when she awoke:
"Frank," she whispered, "I was dreaming of you." In five minutes I had brought her to spasms of pleasure and as her lips were all creaming I threw off my pyjamas and went into her arms. I don't know why, but I never had more poignant sensations; already Grace was an incomparable mistress, taking delight in every movement that could increase the pleasure, and not afraid to take the initiative.
I studied her sex afterwards to find out if possible how she managed to give the ultimate pang of pleasure. Her sex was very small and well-made; the inner lips especially were tiny and used to glow very red with the excitement, but the magic lay in the passionate nature of the girl and her intense desire to do whatever I wished.
Next day I took them to Monte Carlo and showed them the casino and the gambling, but they both disliked the vice for very different reasons. "Greedy old women and nasty old men," said Grace, whereas the aunt noticed the favoritism of the croupiers and the chefs de partie. We drove home by La Turbie and the Upper Corniche, the famous road made by Augustus Caesar.
At dinner that night Mrs. Sterling let her foot rest against mine. Of course, I had already seen that she was pretty and well-made and still fresh; but forty never appealed to me like fourteen, and I had no wish to change Grace for her aunt. But what was I to do? That night, as I was getting into bed, Mrs.
Sterling knocked lightly on my door. I put out the light and crept into bed and pretended to be sleeping. Again the tap, tap! I jumped out of bed. "Who's there?" I cried, while bolting the door into Grace's room, and then went over and half-opened the door into Mrs. Sterling's. She was standing with a dressing-gown about her, halfway between the door and her bed.
"Is there anything the matter?" I said.
"There are such strange noises in this hotel," she said. "Some one knocked at my door and I was scared and knocked at yours."
"First-rate!" I cried, putting my arms round her and kissing her. "You want me?" and I drew her to the bed. She shed her cloak and in a trice I had lifted up her nightie and put her on the bed. She had taken care of herself and had not let herself get too fat, but her figure was nothing like so lovely as that of Grace. Still I had to win her, so I stooped at once to conquer and began kissing her sex. In two minutes she had come three or four times with a hundred "ohs" and "ahs" and sobbing exclamations. "Did your husband ever kiss you there?" I asked.
"Never, never," she said. "He used to have me, but he had always finished before I really began to feeclass="underline" now you excite me dreadfully and give me intense pleasure besides. Was he right, I wonder-my husband, I mean. He used to say that tall women were so much better than short ones because they were smaller there; do you think it true?"
"I don't really know," I said. "I'm afraid that I don't believe in any general rule."
"But do you like me a little?" she asked. "I know you like Grace; but she's too young, don't you think? Love is only understood in maturity."
What could I say? For answer I began kissing her again and again and when she was fully wound up, I put my sex in and found that she was quite a good performer at the game. But she wearied me as well with her passion as with her praise. She told me she hoped I would stay with her always, and when I said that I'd soon have to be getting back to London to go on with my journalistic work, she begged me to leave it; she was rich, why need I work?
She hoped for a child by me: she had always wanted a child-and a deluge of similar hopes and desires.
A length I returned to my room thoroughly disillusioned, and scarcely had I bolted her door and got into bed when I heard a timid "tap" from Grace's side.