“You’re only delaying yourself,” he remarked through teeth clamped into a grin in his beard. “Come on now, what’s so unfriendly about you? Anyone would think I was doing you a bad turn instead of having saved you a lot of bother.” His hand came past my face and I bit it as hard as I could—he grunted and tried to shake me off, but I hung on. Finally he hit me with the Hat of his hand across the side of my head—not hard, but enough so my head swam and my teeth unclenched. He took his hand away, streaming red-hot blood, and we continued the fight. “Think of your sack,” I said. “If anyone came in now it’d be theirs for the taking—” “This is a chance I’d sooner not miss,” he said, which I suppose I should have taken as a compliment. only I knew I was streaked with grime and tattered.

At last he got me hands-fast. I couldn’t kick because of my leg. He lay on top of me and kissed me thoroughly. The maddening thing was that I found my body warm and expectant and it believed it right to be held curved close with his. My humiliation was sharp, only in my head. Damn it. you can’t really call it a rape, can you, when you’re enjoying it?

He was very competent though rather heavy and I didn’t have any more chance to fight. I shivered under him but when I said, “please” I think we both knew it meant the opposite from before. I was crying and then felt drowsy. He was considerate enough and also by then perhaps fond enough of me to hold me in his arms for a while and as I looked up I realized that the very same flame-glows were skedaddling about among the black shadows of this high-fenced courtyard, and we had indeed lost very little time.

“Let me up,” I said. “I have to get on.”

He rose with me, half-supporting me, and we neither of us bothered to look at each other. I wanted to get away as quickly as possible and he knew that and had had what he’d wanted, but as I stumbled out over the gate-wreckage he came up beside me and said, “Here,” thrusting something at me.

I hit furiously away, he knew damned well I wasn’t a whore.

“No, take it,” he said roughly. “You may need it the way you’re going round in this city, you’re asking for bother.” And he made off, striding briskly.