“Ah, Madame, well, ah, women respond to the sensuality they remember as babies or children. When a baby is tended it is cuddled and sung to and fed, and talked to … “
“Endlessly,” said Madame, severely. “Endlessly communicated with, if only in baby talk. There is playfulness in this and an innocent sensuality. Women who were well treated as infants remember the feeling of this warmth and acceptance, if only subconsciously. They like being sensuously cuddled and affectionately talked to. They like being given sweets or wine and playfully admired for their own accomplishments, even if these are minimal. Now, why do men not see this?
“Mouche?” she said, turning suddenly to give him a wicked look. “Why do men not see this?”
He flushed, scrambling through his memory of last night’s reading.
“Oh, Madame, the book says … ah, it says … “ He stared at the ceiling for inspiration.
Tyle spoke up, “Men get ranked by their peers on the battleground, in business, or in games, where nobody gets cuddled and you have to be almost … heroic to be noticed at all.”
Mouche grimaced and offered, “We know this is true, just from fencing class. You have to be very, very good before the master says anything except, ‘Next boy.’ “
“Correct,” said Madame, with an admonitory look at Mouche. “Men are taught to dismiss the need for babying as mere ‘female stuff,’ that is, foolishness, but this nurturing does not seem foolish to women. Women are hungry for affectionate words and that’s why we have conversation mistresses: to teach you to use them! Your colleague or brother may accept your striking him forcefully and addressing him as ‘You old mismothered bastard.’ Your patroness will not do so.
“We do other things similarly. We teach you to dance in ways that make your patroness feel skilled and graceful. We teach you to stack a deck of cards so your patroness will win the game if at that moment she needs to win a game. Simon or Jeremy are skilled cheats, and they will teach you how to do it.
“Now, in order to make a woman contented, we must be alert to the stories she creates about her own feelings. It is important for you to recognize when your patroness is inventing.
“Let us suppose that on some other world a young woman falls ‘in love’ with an utterly unsuitable young man. Describe an unsuitable young man, Bartel.”
Bartel scratched his forehead with his pen, leaving a smear of ink at the top of his nose. “Well, Ma’am, he’d be lazy. He’d be … unkind. He’d be … I suppose he could be dirty. Or ugly … “
“She wouldn’t fall in love with him if he was ugly,” objected Tyle.
“Well, then not ugly,” conceded Barton.
“On the contrary, Tyle, he could be ugly,” said Madame. “And he could be lazy and abusive as well. The woman still might fall in love with him. Why? Anyone?”
Fentrys said, “Because her hormones are pushing her toward mating, he has a dangerous look, and he is spreading pheromones all over the place.”
“Quite true,” agreed Madame. “Now, she cannot say to her friends or parents that her body is sexually receptive and that this man looks dangerous and smells virile. Can she? What would her family say?”
Fentrys laughed. “They’d say he was ugly and lazy and abusive.”
“And the woman actually knows that,” said Madame. “She may refuse to admit it, but she knows that. What she doesn’t know is why she is responding to him. She does not know that she is being led by evolution and her nose. Though she can see his inadequacies with her mind, her body wants him nonetheless, so she has to justify herself. What does she do?”
“She makes up a story,” said Mouche, suddenly enlightened.
“Indeed. All unconscious of what is going on, she makes up a story. What does she say?”
Interested, Fentrys said, “She could say he has good things about him that nobody sees. Some women are very tenderhearted, so she could say he needs her … “
Tyle offered, “She could say he would change after they got married. I heard my aunt say that about a man who offered for my cousin.”