I asked him next time I met him what she had said.
"Oh, much what I expected," he replied.
But he never told me what he had expected.
A CHARMING WOMAN
"Not THE MR. --, REALLY?"
In her deep brown eyes there lurked pleased surprise, struggling
with wonder. She looked from myself to the friend who introduced
us with a bewitching smile of incredulity, tempered by hope.
He assured her, adding laughingly, "The only genuine and original,"
and left us.
"I've always thought of you as a staid, middle-aged man," she said,
with a delicious little laugh, then added in low soft tones, "I'm
so very pleased to meet you, really."
The words were conventional, but her voice crept round one like a
warm caress.
"Come and talk to me," she said, seating herself upon a small
settee, and making room for me.
I sat down awkwardly beside her, my head buzzing just a little, as
with one glass too many of champagne. I was in my literary
childhood. One small book and a few essays and criticisms,
scattered through various obscure periodicals had been as yet my
only contributions to current literature. The sudden discovery
that I was the Mr.
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