Now the young woman really blushed scarlet and buried her face a moment against his chest. He kissed her hair, his eyes flaming, then composed himself and, slipping his left arm around her soft shoulders, murmured, “And this little nuance now, my sweet Marcia, proves all the more to me how fortunate among men I am to have you for my wife on this magic night. And when we have finished the tour of my magic carpet, as you've so admirably visioned it, this suite will really be even more the site of my most joyous and beautiful adventure, save this difference, it will be for life.”
“Oh, Max-darling,” she breathed and turned her face up to be kissed.
“Now to go on, my pet. My friend, as you know, was about to explain another detail, and I was all attention. He went on, 'The lady in question has a second privilege, against which there is no appeal. When she has had her will of you, she can put you up as a prize in a second lottery for the satisfaction of the other ladies present. She is, in fact, at liberty to give you away, since you are her personal property. In this way, the guest of honor may be made the object of as many as three spins of the wheel. So it's just as well I warned you, isn't it?'
“I said to him, Marcia, “There is one thing I'm not quite clear about. While the first part of the evening is proceeding, while, that is, the various couples are going about their ordinary business, what does the guest of honor do? Surely the time hangs rather heavily on his hands?'
“'Not so heavily as you might fear. We have a little ceremony designed to do honor to our guest, to underline the fact that the possession of his person is something rather special, and this takes the pattern of a sort of ritual toilet. He is delivered to the tender care of a woman-young and pretty, make no mistake about that-who will behave with the utmost correctness. She is not a member of the society, but is attached to it, so to speak, for certain duties. Shall I add only that the choice of this is perhaps of her own nature, for as you know, certain women derive intense pleasure in performing rather servile duties to the male.'”
“Oh, my darling, now you have really tantalized me and I shan't let you evade telling me of those duties either! Penalty or not, in fact, perhaps they'd be a delight for you that-well-you might like me to perform later on, when we are better friends and closer…” Her voice was flurried, soft and vibrant, her eyes deep and luminous.
He couldn't resist kissing her again, with more than casual enthusiasm. Her response, her evident feminine curiosity and her interest in him was overwhelmingly captivating to the ego of the most shallow male, but, sophisticated as Max Phillips was, he understood her sincerity. He would make no rules he told himself, he would let the night unfold its own magic. And he felt sure it would be a night such as he had never known in all his life as a voluptuary.
This paradox of the virgin who was wise entranced him; he had never before possessed such a woman, so young yet so mature.
Then he went on, ardently, holding her right hand in both of his, “You shall learn all those rituals, just as I did, for they were new to me, even if I'd read about them, I dare say, as much as you did. Yet reading, my own sweet, is an ineffectual sublimation when one has as companion such a wonderful, intelligent woman. Never delude yourself, Marcia, into thinking a man is afraid of a girl of intellect; on the contrary, my darling, a man of any wisdom at all realizes that a beautiful girl who desires love has the capacity for it and, if uninhibited and tolerant of mind, makes the most exciting of all lovers.”
She nodded, watching him, her hip pressed against his, and their bodily electricity began its work as stimulant.
He resumed, “Then, Marcia, my friend continued, 'You will be anointed with very rare perfumes and exquisite unguents and you will be presented to the winner, who must be made to feel she is inordinately lucky in her prize. We rely on the absolute loyalty of our guests, of course. He must do his utmost to keep the lady assistant from stepping out of her role, which is at once delicate and strictly limited in extent. Otherwise he'll infringe on the rule and will expose her to severe reprimand. Now, this ritual preparation takes place precisely during the time about which you were speaking. It may very likely last for the whole of it. Should the necessity arise, the master of ceremonies, duly informed that you are ready, will ask the winner and her first partner to bring their interview to a close.'
“'It all seems admirably ingenious and well planned!' I said, Marcia, 'but is it always the ladies who get the benefit of the lottery?'
“'Not at all,' my friend retorted. 'Didn't I tell you that we sometimes have an evening at which the guest of honor is a woman? When that happens, everything is transposed. The symmetry is complete-the lottery, the winner's privileges, and so on-but it's the man this time who rules the roost. The only point in which the parallelism breaks down is that the young person who superintends the ritual toilet remains the same. It seems to us it would be better so, and the ladies concerned don't seem to mind. Women are more adaptable in those matters than men.' ”
“Now there's a pretty compliment to my sex,” chuckled Marcia, sitting near to him and giving him a passionate glance. “I'd say it was indeed very ingenious and well planned. But tell me how did that famous evening actually turn out?”
“Better than even my friend had led me to expect, Marcia.”
“Oh, now, you're generalizing! You must absolutely detail everything! I shall be vexed if you don't.”
“I see you mean it. Very well, I've no intention at all to hide anything from my lovely wife. The atmosphere, darling, was one of politeness, good breeding, perfect ease-nothing at all resembling a squalid orgy. And the only effect of the drinks the company took was to make them more careful than ever not to indulge in vulgar excesses, and the more daring the situation became, the more ceremonious were its participants. I noticed no relaxation in discipline such as even my introducer had intimated might take place.”
“And-and-you really, Max dear-you really were made a lottery prize?”
“Certainly I was.”
Marcia made a face that was supposed to suggest pique. “How did you like it and who won you?”
“A lady of title, actually-I'll say a marchioness — but of course would never reveal her name. She was a lovely golden-haired creature. If I'd met her in the street, my darling, I should have thought her a bit grand-not exactly my type, but deliciously slim, provocative in agile movements. She had, Marcia, gorgeous blue eyes in a face that looked almost as innocent as a child's. I got the impression, too, that she regarded our rather peculiar form of amusement, with which, I gather, she'd been familiar from the first days of her marriage, as no more immoral than ballroom dancing. That attitude, as you can guess, made a definite impression on me. It gave me at once a certain depth of acquaintanceship to our meeting and made me, for one thing, feel less nervous than otherwise I would have been. Yes, she appeared to rank its complications with the other elegance of social life. It may startle you to know, Marcia, my sweet, that I can perfectly imagine her and her friends organizing a party of the kind I have described to aid charity. The only difference in that case would be that the numbers drawn from the bowls would cost ten guineas each. You can have no idea how gracious she was in all her dealings with me. Wait, I'm not going to skip anything, as you wanted, but you must let me tell this in my own way, as it happened, as it registered on me. When the ladies were told they could look at their numbers, hers was number two by the by. She came over to me and said, in a slightly husky voice, 'This is a great happiness. I'm glad that luck has favored me tonight of all nights.' Then she went with her partner like all the others for the first part of the program. She managed to get close enough to me to say, 'Don't worry, I won't keep you waiting long.' And she was as good as her word, Marcia, for no sooner had I been led back into the drawing room dressed in my fine silk robe, than she appeared.”