" You' re quite right," I admitted, " During the week I' ll kiss nothing other than your pretty feet, and I want constantly to have one of your slippers on my mantelpiece at home."
" By all means. There' s nothing more flattering than thus to be worshipped even down to one' s last articles of apparel. Because you adore them, I take the very best care of my feet. I wash them in rose water twice each day, morning and evening and whenever I come back from a walk."
" Ah, celestial fuckeress, let me kiss them! Let me kiss them!"
" None of that during the week; it arouses you. Kiss your idol. My face is as sensitive as most other parts of me. But go no further. Apart from that, I' m yours, do with me what you like, sell me, surrender me whenever you wish. I' ll give myself with pleasure, knowing it is for you."
Despite my inclinations, I fasted dutifully; I kept control over myself because it was necessary to do so. But there on my mantel lay her slipper, pink with green heels. I rendered it a daily homage in honor of my daughter, the most pious and most devoted child any man ever had. On Saturday I told Conquette of this ritual; she was transported with joy. She darted her tongue into my mouth, gave me her nipples to suck, her silken cunt hair to fondle, and said lovingly: " I thank heaven for having given me such a good father. He took the best care of me during my childhood and I am happy now to be able to make some return for his kindness by giving him a little pleasure. I am the charm and delight of his life, he is the charm and delight of mine. In love, and this I know by experience, nothing equals the voluptuousness of incest."
A few minutes later, at eight o' clock, the whole of our little society, Trait- d' Amour, his sister Minonne, his mistress Connette, Rose- Mauve, Cordaboyau, Brisemotte, came to talk over the next day' s get- together. I gave them the password and asked them to stay for supper. We had a fine eight- pound roast leg of lamb and quantities of Burgundy with hot pate. After the meal, eager to inject a little fire into them and into myself too, I related in the Brideconins' s presence, the following story.
" You enjoy stories," I said, pushing aside the plate containing my pate, which I did not wish to eat. " We' ll have very different business on our hands tomorrow. While you are finishing your supper I propose to entertain you with a tale." My friends laughed merrily and then fell silent and listened.
" There was in the city of Sens a widow, still beautiful although the mother of six girls, the eldest of whom was nearing twenty- three and was named Adelaide; the second, Sophie, was less than twenty- two; Julie, the third, was almost twenty- one; Justine twenty, Aglae nineteen, and finally, the youngest, Emilie eighteen. The mother, Madame Linars – that was her name – had as well two nieces, Lucie and Annette Baco. Also in the household were a pretty chambermaid of eighteen and the cook, a tall and handsome girl of twenty years. The husband had mismanaged his financial affairs before he died; his widow had only the income from her dowry, roughly five or six thousand pounds, with which to support her numerous entourage. The nieces had, between the two of them, only fifteen hundred pounds a years. Thus there were eleven persons to maintain on at the most seven thousand five hundred pounds.
" There then appeared in Sens a large and handsome man whose face indicated an age of thirty, whereas he was actually ten years younger than that. He was said to be exceedingly rich, and indeed he was. His arms and chest were covered with a thicket of hair; his regard was direct, penetrating, even fierce but his smile was sweet and gave him a mild aspect. And it was often he smiled, and unfailingly when he saw a pretty woman.
" The eldest of the Linars girls was charming. Fysistere fell head over heels in love with her even though in his seraglio he already had at the time a married woman whom he' d spirited away from Paris with her husband' s consent. He had also this unfortunate lady' s sister, sold him by her father. Thirdly, he had a superb Carmelite nun, their cousin, who had given herself of her own accord to him, because, doubtless, she was hysterical or, if you prefer, a nymphomaniac. But all his mistresses were pregnant at the time: Fysistere employed them exclusively for the begetting of children. He went to Madame Linars' s house to ask for Adelaide' s hand.
" The hairy rascal, discovering no fewer than eleven women in the establishment, fairly trembled, so at home did he feel. He produced an inventory of his goods, reckoned up his fortune, and proposed to marry the eldest. An annual income of thirty thousand francs and documents he exhibited induced Madame Linars to accept without having to be asked a second time. Thereafter, appearing the prefect gentleman, he paid the family visits until the marriage, and he distributed presents, not only to his intended, but to her mother, the sister- inlaw, to Lucie and Annette, the two nieces, as well as to Geoline and Mariette, the servants. ' Twas by means of these gifts he laid siege to their virtue.
" But a few details are required to be better acquainted with this personage.
" Fysistere was one of those hirsute men who have descended from a mingling of our species with that of the strange men with tails who dwell in the isthmus of Panama and upon the island of Borneo. He had the vigor of ten ordinary men, that is to say he might have beaten ten if they' d fought with the same weapons and on an equal footing, and he needed, all for himself, as many women as ten men would require. In Paris, he had bought the wife of a person named Guac, a scoundrel who' d sold and surrendered her to him. Fysistere had since then been keeping her under lock and key. He took his pleasure with this luckless creature (the most enticing woman imaginable and one furnished with a passionate temper) ten or twelve times each day, which usage so fatigued her that she had recommended he consult her father and arrange to buy her sister too, Doucette by name, who would share her work with her. He did as she suggested, but these two women were soon worn to a frazzle; happily, a nun' s confessor at about the same period located the hysterical nun for our satyr. She was the cousin of the two sisters. The confessor got her from her convent by a ruse, saying he planned to take her to a health resort. He delivered her instead to Fysistere. She serviced him alone for a fortnight. Her two cousins thereby got some much needed rest.
"' Twas at this period the man with the tail came to Sens and met the Linars family. Before he had acquired Madame Guac, he had been brought three dressmaker' s apprentices every morning. But the precautions he was obliged to take for the sake of his health when dealing with creatures who, after having seen him, circulated freely about town, these safety measures, I say, annoyed and hampered him no end and spoiled the pleasure he took with the girls he had procured. Moreover, as he had decided upon a plan to increase the size of the race of tailed men, and to populate all of Borneo, his native island, with them, he was eager to be able to keep an eye on the children he sired. His three women were gravid, he preferred not to fatigue them further for the time being. As soon as he had gained entry into the Linars home, he would have undertaken without delay to deflower his future wife, or stuff one of the nieces, or the cook or the maid, had he not noticed that this would have brought on complications. He decided to postpone this supplementary recruiting until after his marriage. The first whom he assailed was his mother- in- law- to- be. He gave her a gift of two thousand crowns in cash one day, and, she flying into an ecstasy of gratitude, he slid his hand under her skirt. ' You' ll have an identical sum every six months," said he, " if you let me put it in you now. Nor need you worry lest your submission prove prejudicial to your daughter. There' s more than enough left for her.' As he was uncommonly powerful, he stirred and stuffed her all the while he was talking. The lady found herself caught. She' d been very far from expecting this. She was fucked at least ten times over, so vigorous was her opponent. At last, released, she gasped: ' My stars! what a man!'