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for that," and when Walter put out his hand again, she touched her fingers to it. |
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To her surprise, Marie found she was enjoying herself. Although Walter was not paying her the extravagant compliments common in the circles to which she was accustomed, he was producing in her the feeling that she was truly valued. She nearly dropped her flirtatious manner and responded naturally, but as Walter's fingers began to close over hers and move upward so that he could take her whole hand into his and draw her closer to him, she remembered that she must not make herself cheap. Thus, she twitched her fingers about and played with his, teasingly preventing a handclasp. |
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Walter was sufficiently familiar with this technique to know what it meant. Many, many times he had set himself to convince a womanor to let her convince herselfthat violation of the rules of chastity would not reduce her value to him. It was something Walter did not understand. His mistresses never seemed to worry about the violation of God's law. Oh, they acknowledged the sin and would confess it and do penance for it, no doubt, but it was not the sin or God's anger they feared; it was that they would be diminished in Walter's own mortal and very unimportant eyes. |
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He set himself to soothe Marie, combining praise of her features and form with more especial praise of her kindness and generosity. "One does not forget, cannot forget, the free giving of such a prize. We cannot know the future" He had captured her hand by this time and had pulled her nearer, but not quite against him. "It may be that circumstances will not permit us to meet this way again. I hope it will not be so. I wish . . ." He let that trail away artistically, not stating but implying the lie that his desire was for a permanent relationship. |
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The implication did not worry Walter. No mistress of his had suffered a broken heart. Usually it was the lady who broke off the connection, either because she saw something that appealed more to her or because she discovered Walter was no chick to be plucked at will. A few had parted from him with real regret because circumstances had changed and it was no longer safe to have a lover; one or two had severed the relationship because they felt themselves in danger of caring too much. Whatever the cause, every woman to whom Walter had made love in the past had understood the hint for |
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