The Darts of Cupid: Stories by Edith Templeton Read Free Book Online Page A

appeared to me, as though floating toward me out of the moonlit night behind the window, and I knew that this was the rendering of love as it should be: trapped inescapably, secure and fastened, drowned in bed and water, both cradle and grave. I gave a sigh of contentment and fell asleep.
    WHEN I WOKE UP, it was daylight, and I saw the Major standing behind the brass bars at the foot of the bed and looking at me over the top rail, like a keeper in the zoo who has come to look after his charge. He was in socks and underpants and vest. "I’m getting dressed," he said, "but I think I’ll undress again, now that you’re up."
    "No," I said.
    "Why not?" he asked, gripping the bed rail with one hand and pulling off his socks.
    "Even if you are a beast," I said, "I couldn’t possibly. Think of Constance. I couldn’t look Constance in the face anymore. And she’s so sweet. She even gave me her best nightie to wear."
    He said, "We’ve had Constance and her sweetness last night. She’s sweet—you said so, I said so, ad nauseam. Perhaps that’s what made you throw up." He rested both arms on the bed rail and leaned over it, looking down at me.
    "I don’t understand you," I said, avoiding his eyes.
    "You have that marvelous cold skin," he said. "You can lie for hours in bed with a man and you never get sticky and sweaty."
    I did not speak.
    "You are so exquisitely made," he said, "I could break every bone in your body."
    "Go to hell," I said.
    "I shan’t go to hell," he said, "but I may go to the office."
    "Yes, do," I said. "Go to the office."
    "I needn’t go," he said.
    "You look so revoltingly clean and healthy it makes me ill just looking at you," I said.
    "Yes. I suppose so," he said. "You are exhausted, but you’re looking very pleased with yourself just the same. So be it. Relax. I’ll put you down as a case of battle fatigue, but not incurred in the line of duty."
    It was only when I heard his laughter that I knew he had strangled his desire.
    I lay back on the pillows and nestled into the covers. I heard him come and go, opening and shutting doors and drawers, and felt reassured at these sounds. Once, I heard his voice and laughter outside in the hall, but I could not hear anyone answering. He returned, stopping in the door. He was fully dressed and carried his cap in his hand. "I told Constance not to disturb you," he said. "Go to sleep now, and when you wake up she’ll give you a nice breakfast." Once more, I heard his laughter outside, then the muffled slam of the front door.
    When I woke up, I felt bright and light-headed and hungry. I went first of all to the window and looked out. The ledge was empty, the mortar dirty and eroded by many craters, and my heart tightened with remorse and shame and gratitude at the thought of the soiled gloves lying in the leaden moonlight. I took the Major’s dressing gown from a hook on the door and stepped into his bathroom slippers, plaited of raffia and lined with Turkish toweling, and made my way along the passage, around the corner, past the open door of the kitchen, past the closed doors of the dining room and the drawing room. I knocked at a couple of narrower doors and opened them. In one room I saw an ironing board surrounded by chests and boxes. The other was a bathroom. I went back to the drawing room, walking slowly and with a shuffle, trying to stifle the slapping noise the outsize slippers made at every step. From the dining room I heard Constance’s voice: "Is that you, Eve?"
    "Yes, Constance, I’m afraid so. Outstaying my welcome."
    "Do come in, you poor lamb."
    I opened the door. It was not the dining room, as I now realized; I must have passed that before or after the kitchen. I saw the wide bed in the middle, well away from both walls, and in it Constance, half sitting up, facing me, and I thought again how pretty and how forgettable she was. Only then did I see more. Leaning against her shoulder was the Captain’s head.
    "Do come right in, Eve," she