She would have laughed her head off at the suggestion that she might fall in love with him. But love him she did, in a strange sort of way. He was constantly by her side and just as one becomes used to the people with whom one lives, she became accustomed to his voice, his gestures and everything about him. Quite often his face would haunt her dreams. She would see him as he was in real life – gentle, sensitive and humbly passionate. She would awaken still under the influence of the dream and imagine she could still hear his voice and feel him close to her. One night (she might possibly have had a temperature at the time) she dreamed she was with him in a little wood where they were both sitting down on the grass. He was saying lovely things to her, squeezing her hands and kissing them. She felt the warmth of his skin and his breath on her. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, she was stroking his hair. In dreams we are quite different from our daily selves. She felt herself now full of a deep, calm affection for him and glad to be touching his forehead and holding him close to her. Gradually, he went on to take her in his arms, and to kiss her cheeks and eyes while she made no attempt to free herself. Their lips met and she gave herself to him.

It was a moment of intense, rapturous happiness, a super-human and unforgettable uniting of body and soul. She woke suddenly, distraught, and tingling in every limb. She could not get back to sleep. She felt completely taken over and possessed by him. When she next saw him, unaware though he was of the turmoil he had caused within her, she felt herself blush. As he spoke timidly of his love she could think of nothing but that ecstatic moment in the dream. She loved him with a very particular affection which combined the sensual and the ideal and which was based principally on the memory of her unconscious. However, she still feared any realization of the desire now kindled in her heart.

Eventually, he became aware of her feelings. She told him all, including her fear of his kisses. She made him promise to respect her. And respect her he did. Together they would spend long hours of platonic love during which their souls alone embraced. They parted feeling on edge, weak and exhausted. At times their lips would meet and, closing their eyes, they would enjoy a long, lingering but nevertheless chaste kiss.