His reasoning was simple. In South Carolina young ladies did not gaze upon lewd pictures in the company of young men, or at all for that matter. It shocked him, but it excited him as well.

He had never felt sexual interest in a girl of his own class. No gentleman would. There were women, both black and white, provided by a beneficent Providence for such purposes. One married eventually, of course, a girl of suitable wealth and family, and one begat children. But one did not expect to be stirred by one's wife; one sullied her purity as little as possible.

Theodosia's attitude baffled him.

'The pictures are very pretty,' he muttered. 'Now let us go out to the gardens, as your father suggested.'

She nodded quickly, glad to escape.

On the stairs going down he took her arm awkwardly; its bare cool flesh gave him unexpected pleasure. His hand tightened, and she drew away from his hot fingers.

A full moon lit the gardens, painting them with silver and black. Against the darkness of leaves and well-trimmed grass, fireflies made tiny orange lights. The air was sweet with heliotrope and box.

She walked very fast, giving him no time to linger, pointing out the interesting features: the little maze, not yet grown high enough to be mysterious; the sundial from a Versailles garden; the pond, clamorous with bullfrogs. Alston was forced into an ungainly shamble in order to keep up with her swift feet.

'You go too fast,' he complained at last, as they entered the grape arbor. 'Let us sit down here on this bench.'

She hesitated. Through the open windows of the drawingroom music streamed, the mellow harmony of the fiddles, the joyous plink-plunk of the pianoforte. Dancers passed and repassed across the brightly lit rectangles, their heads swaying gracefully to valse rhythm. She saw a blur of smiling faces, heard Katie's unmistakable laugh. They were all having such a good time in there. She yearned to join them. Alston, who had previously only bored her, now made her extremely uncomfortable as well. That moment of mutual embarrassment in the picture gallery had changed their relationship. His attitude had become intimate, and tinctured with a definite flavor of pursuit. And she had no wish to be pursued. Still, her father would be displeased if they returned so soon, or if she refused to a guest any reasonable request. Particularly this guest. Aaron had made that quite clear.

She sighed, seating herself primly on the edge of the bench. Moonlight filtered through the grape leaves above and endowed her with a luminous beauty, softening the slight heaviness of her jaw line and enlarging her dark eyes to supernatural size. Theodosia was pretty by any light, but now she was breath-taking. A siren.

Alston flung himself down beside her and stared. His mouth watered and his heart pounded. New and disturbing impulses besieged him.