after touching the edges, they felt them glow happily all through their upper bodies.
“And what have you been doing?” the Colonel asked.
“Nothing. I still wait to go away to school.”
“Where now?”
“God knows. Wherever I go to learn English.”
“Turn your head and raise your chin once for me.”
“You’re not making fun?”
“No. I’m not making fun.”
She turned her head and raised her chin, without vanity, nor coquetry, and the Colonel felt his heart turn over inside him, as though some sleeping animal had rolled over in its burrow and frightened, deliciously, the other animal sleeping close beside.
“Oh you,” he said. “Would you ever like to run for Queen of Heaven?”
“That would be sacrilegious.”
“Yes,” he said. “I suppose it would and I withdraw the suggestion.”
“Richard,” she said. “No I can’t say it.”
“Say it.”
“No.”
The Colonel thought, I order you to say it. And she said, “Please never look at me like that.”
“I’m sorry,” the Colonel said. “I had just slipped into my trade unconsciously.”
“And if we were such a thing as married would you practice your trade in the home?”
“No. I swear it. I never have. Not in my heart.”
