Page 104 (1/2)

And then it did happen and everything dissolved and shook and throbbed--

Here she had blacked out the rest of the line, with a sin, that said,

Well, none of the books I’ve ever read could describe it, either!

Despite his shocked fascination, Roger laughed aloud, then choked it off, glancing round hastily to see that he was still alone There were noises in the kitchen, but no sound of footsteps in the hall, and his eyes went back to the page like iron filings drawn to a net

I hadthere with little electric shocks still going off, and I opened my eyes and it was Stephen Bonnet inside me

It was such a shock it woke --er and the baby were sound asleep I was hot all over, so hot I eating, but I was cold, too, and s settled down enough foron

That’s what finally let o back to sleep, in fact--the birds Da--and Daddy, too, coive alar when someone comes near, so when you’re in a forest, you listen for that With so much racket in the trees by the house, I kneas safe--nobody was there

There was a se He turned it, feeling his pal resu had been fluid, ale Here, they were forh the first shock of the experience were spent, and she had returned, with a stubborn caution, to think further about it

I tried to forget it, but that didn’t work It kept co back into my mind, so I finally went out by myself to work in the herb shed Mas, so I knew I could be alone So I sat down in thebunches and closedabout it, and think to myself about the different parts, "That’s okay," or "That’s just a dream" Because Stephen Bonnet scared ht of the end--but I really wanted to remember ho it felt, and how I did it, sothis feeling that I can’t, unless I can reer’s secret name

There the entry stopped The dreaer didn’t read further He closed the book very carefully and slid it back behind the others on the shelf He rose to his feet and stood looking out thefor so palms over the seams of his breeches

PART FIVE

’Tis Better to Marry Than Burn

39

IN CUPID’S GROVE

DO YE THINK they’ll share a bed?"

Jamie didn’t raise his voice, but he’dat the far end of the terrace, too far away for the bridal couple to hear A nuh

Ninian Bell Hahtly and fluttered iving Jae in the ribs

"A nice, respectable sort of thing for a nephew to be wondering about his aunt," I said under e and lifted an eyebrow at me

"What’s respectable to do with it? They’ll be e of consent, both o’ theht pink with smothered uess put him in his mid-fifties Jamie’s aunt Jocasta had to be at least a decade older

I could just see Jocasta over the heads of the intervening crowd, graciously accepting the greetings of friends and neighbors at the far end of the terrace A tall woe stone vases holding sprays of dried goldenrod, and her black butler Ulysses stood at her shoulder, dignified in wig and green livery With an elegant white lace cap crowning her bold MacKenzie bones, she was undeniably the queen of River Run Plantation I stood on tiptoe, searching for her consort