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Authors: Amelia Hart
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the visitor with sudden, unexpected vistas. It was easy to pass unseen if one wanted to.
"That is very restrictive," he offered.
"Yes. Quite."
"I can't thi nk it realistic."
"And yet we are told it is God's will."
"We are told. Yet if one takes the position-"
"Enough of your positions. There are words, and then there are facts, and basic decency. We were made to cleave one to another. Not spread ourselves aro und like venereal disease."
"Good heavens. You really are a woman of the world, Miss Preston."
"Oh hush. Let me tell you, you will never achieve true joy and satisfaction in life until you discover a loving union blessed and sanctified by God. And since you are obviously incapable of such a state, you shall never be truly happy."
"I am generally acc ounted a very happy man," he said meekly.
"Delusion."
"Again you seem very certain. Have you made such a study of me, then, to know me better than I know myself? Better than my closest friends know me?"
"I know enough about people, and how we were intended to live."
"Then how is it you yourself have not attained such a blessed state of happiness?"
"I," she said loftily, "am discerning."
He laughed softly. "Ah. And so we come full circle. I am to be guided by your solitary state of celibacy, I see."
"There are worse fates."
"Not that I can imagine."
"You are harsh," she said, stung.
"Honest. For it is such an intrinsic delight, such a basic life pleasure-"
"Say rather base."
"-that to deny oneself is to deny life itself," he went on as if she had not interrup ted. "Such denial is a corruption of all that is good in our nature."
"All that is good? How you undervalue humanity, Mr Holbrook. We are so much more than our base desires. We are-"
"I can only suggest you say such things out of ignorance, Miss Preston."
"Well of course I am ignorant. How else would you have me be? No, don't answer that," she added hastily as she saw him open his mouth, a delighted gleam in his eyes. "I have no interest in your preferences. But I am absolutely certain beyond all shadow of doubt that such congress is a tiny portion of the lives we must lead under heaven."
"And I am absolutely certain such congress is heaven on earth."
"Don't add blasphemy to your other sins."
"Why would the God who so intelligently designed us, craft us to e njoy this so much if not because it fit his grand purpose?"
"Certainly. Within the bounds of marriage."
"But not all lovers are equal. Some are far more intriguing and delightful than others."
"I would not know," she said forbiddingly.
"Only think how you will have thwarted God's purpose for you if you settle for a mediocre lover as a husband."
"I have greater faith."
"I'm sure. And yet you can't deny you see the results of such unions everywhere you go. Husbands unhappy with wives; wives unhappy with husbands; rampant infidelity. You can't tell me this is a system functioning well. For a surety it is not."
"What would you prefer, then? For us all to try out each and every prospective partner until we find the most . . ." she groped for a word, "suitable? Ho w repulsive!"
"Perhaps that is what I am doing. I am searching for the perfect companion of my heart."
She could not explain why her own heart gave an odd lurch at his words. "Pretty mouthings cannot whitewash your choices."
"Even I do not know what I seek," he confessed softly, and there was an uncomfortable ring of truth to the utterance, intimate in the quiet of the glade through which they passed, as he sought out her gaze. "I don't know what I'm looking for, beyond the i mmediacy of mutual pleasure. I don't know the reason for my restlessness. Call me a hedonist if you like, but I truly see no better alternative."
"Try harder," she urged him, caught by this moment of vulnerability. "You could be better than you are."
"You think?"
"Well I . . . I would like to believe there is potential for everyone to move beyond darkness into light."
"But the dark is so warm. So
"That is very restrictive," he offered.
"Yes. Quite."
"I can't thi nk it realistic."
"And yet we are told it is God's will."
"We are told. Yet if one takes the position-"
"Enough of your positions. There are words, and then there are facts, and basic decency. We were made to cleave one to another. Not spread ourselves aro und like venereal disease."
"Good heavens. You really are a woman of the world, Miss Preston."
"Oh hush. Let me tell you, you will never achieve true joy and satisfaction in life until you discover a loving union blessed and sanctified by God. And since you are obviously incapable of such a state, you shall never be truly happy."
"I am generally acc ounted a very happy man," he said meekly.
"Delusion."
"Again you seem very certain. Have you made such a study of me, then, to know me better than I know myself? Better than my closest friends know me?"
"I know enough about people, and how we were intended to live."
"Then how is it you yourself have not attained such a blessed state of happiness?"
"I," she said loftily, "am discerning."
He laughed softly. "Ah. And so we come full circle. I am to be guided by your solitary state of celibacy, I see."
"There are worse fates."
"Not that I can imagine."
"You are harsh," she said, stung.
"Honest. For it is such an intrinsic delight, such a basic life pleasure-"
"Say rather base."
"-that to deny oneself is to deny life itself," he went on as if she had not interrup ted. "Such denial is a corruption of all that is good in our nature."
"All that is good? How you undervalue humanity, Mr Holbrook. We are so much more than our base desires. We are-"
"I can only suggest you say such things out of ignorance, Miss Preston."
"Well of course I am ignorant. How else would you have me be? No, don't answer that," she added hastily as she saw him open his mouth, a delighted gleam in his eyes. "I have no interest in your preferences. But I am absolutely certain beyond all shadow of doubt that such congress is a tiny portion of the lives we must lead under heaven."
"And I am absolutely certain such congress is heaven on earth."
"Don't add blasphemy to your other sins."
"Why would the God who so intelligently designed us, craft us to e njoy this so much if not because it fit his grand purpose?"
"Certainly. Within the bounds of marriage."
"But not all lovers are equal. Some are far more intriguing and delightful than others."
"I would not know," she said forbiddingly.
"Only think how you will have thwarted God's purpose for you if you settle for a mediocre lover as a husband."
"I have greater faith."
"I'm sure. And yet you can't deny you see the results of such unions everywhere you go. Husbands unhappy with wives; wives unhappy with husbands; rampant infidelity. You can't tell me this is a system functioning well. For a surety it is not."
"What would you prefer, then? For us all to try out each and every prospective partner until we find the most . . ." she groped for a word, "suitable? Ho w repulsive!"
"Perhaps that is what I am doing. I am searching for the perfect companion of my heart."
She could not explain why her own heart gave an odd lurch at his words. "Pretty mouthings cannot whitewash your choices."
"Even I do not know what I seek," he confessed softly, and there was an uncomfortable ring of truth to the utterance, intimate in the quiet of the glade through which they passed, as he sought out her gaze. "I don't know what I'm looking for, beyond the i mmediacy of mutual pleasure. I don't know the reason for my restlessness. Call me a hedonist if you like, but I truly see no better alternative."
"Try harder," she urged him, caught by this moment of vulnerability. "You could be better than you are."
"You think?"
"Well I . . . I would like to believe there is potential for everyone to move beyond darkness into light."
"But the dark is so warm. So
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