“I knew you would, my dear,” Colin continued. “There’s something fine about you that’s different. You can see things like that where others can’t.”

4

4

She wished she could bring things to a head, ask for what she wanted and get it over with one way or another. But would it be wise to throw a wrench into the machinery now by dragging sordid materialism into the spirituality he was parading?

He looked vaguely about the half dark room and seemed to decide he could develop his mood no further in that atmosphere.

“Shall we go?” he asked suddenly.

She nodded her head in a way that told him his every wish was her command. They stepped out into the night. A sedan was waiting, a huge, black car half a block long. The chauffeur came scuttling out to open the door for her, and she slid lithely into the roomy back, nestling into a corner of the wide seat and staring straight forward at the black, sleek hair of the chauffeur.

Colin moved in close to her side. He slipped a hand possessively round her waist.

“You’re so lovely, Terry,” he murmured.

She forced herself not to blurt out, Don’t you know you said that a little while ago? Instead she forced herself to smile, hoping he’d let it go at that.

He didn’t. He moved closer to her, practically flattening her against the side of the car, and he pressed his rubbery lips on her mouth. At first her head moved back instinctively, then, fearing he would notice, she remained passively inert. She did not want to offend Colin.

His lips clung to hers. His hand roamed upward from her waist to her bare back, then began to wander past her left side until the groping fingers just barely touched the curve of her breast. She felt sharp inner disgust at the contact, but she did not remove the hand, nor did she give any hint of welcoming the caress.

After a moment that threatened to be prolonged forever, he removed his lips from hers, let the hand drop from her breast, and sighed deeply. She said nothing. He drew his features into the melancholy, faintly ridiculous expression which she knew was the precursor of more talk about his soul.

She looked out the window at the scattered lights along the boulevard. Colin leaned his head back against the soft, plushy upholstery and turned his eyes in the same direction. The car glided smoothly along, leaving Wilshire and beginning to climb into the low hills. The headlights played on a huge Chamber of Commerce sign at the side of the road:

FASTEST GROWING CITY IN THE WORLD.

FOUR AND A HALF MILLION PEOPLE NOW.

EIGHT MILLION BY NINETEEN SEVENTY.

Colin snorted contemptuously. “So what?” he asked rhetorically.

“I don’t understand,” Terry said, looking at him.