I reared up on one elbow. “I believe you. I believe you have yourself convinced that that is how it was. Now I’ll tell you how it was.”
“Do, please.”
“You sat down in that trick chair knowing that I would never let you go through with it. You knew that, whether that devious female mind of yours admitted it to itself or not. The Old Man could not have forced me into that chair, not with a gun, not even with drugs. But you could. You did. You were the one who forced me to go through with something which I would rather have been dead than touched . . . a thing that now leaves me dirty and spoiled. You did it.”
She had grown steadily whiter as I talked, until her face was almost green against her hair. She caught her breath and said, “You believe that, Sam?”
“What else?”
“Sam, that is not the way it was. I did not know you were going to be in there. I was terribly startled. But there was nothing to do but go through with it; I had promised.”
“‘Promised’,” I repeated. “That covers everything, a schoolgirl promise.”
“Hardly a schoolgirl promise.”
“No matter. And it doesn’t matter whether you are telling the truth or not about knowing that I would be in there—you aren’t, of course, but it doesn’t matter. The point is: you were there and I was there—and you could figure what would happen if you did what you did do.”
“Oh.” She waited a bit, then went on, “That’s the way it looks to you and I can’t dispute the facts.”
“Hardly.”
She stood very still for a long time. I let her. Finally she said, “Sam—once you said something to me about wanting to marry me.”
“I remember something of the sort. That was another day.”
“I didn’t expect you to renew the offer. But there was something else, a sort of corollary. Sam, no matter what you think of me, I want to tell you that I am deeply grateful for what you did for me. Uh, Miss Barkis is willing, Sam—you understand me?”
This time I grinned at her. “A female to the very end! Honest so help me, the workings of the female mind continue to delight and astound me. You always think you can cancel out the score and start over with that one trump play.” I continued to grin at her while she turned red. “It won’t work. Not this time. I won’t inconvenience you by taking up your no-doubt generous offer.”
She continued to blush but she came back at me in a steady, level voice, “I let myself in for that. Nevertheless, it’s true. That—or anything else I can ever do for you.”
My elbow was going to sleep; I sank back and lay down. “Sure, you can do something for me.”
Her face lit up. “What?”
“Go away and quit bothering me. I’m tired.” I turned my face away. I did not hear her leave, but I heard Doris come back in. She was bristling like a fox terrier; they must have passed in the hall. She faced me, fists on her hips, looking cute and adorable and very indignant. “She got around you, didn’t she?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Don’t lie to me. You went soft on her. I know—men always do. The idiots! A woman like that, all she has to do is shake her fanny at a man and he rolls over and plays dead.”
“Well, I didn’t. I gave her what for.”
“You’re sure you did?”
“I did—and sent her packing.”
Doris looked doubtful. “I hope you did. Maybe you did—she wasn’t looking too pert as she came out.” She dismissed the matter. “How do you feel?”
“Pretty good”—it was a lie, net.
“Want some massage?”
“No, just come here and sit on the bed and talk to me. Want a cigarette?”
“Well—as long as the doctor doesn’t catch me.” She perched up on the bed; I struck cigarettes for both of us and stuck hers in her mouth. She took a deep drag, swelling out her chest and pushing her arrogant breasts against her halter almost to the breaking point. I thought again what a sweet dish she was; she was just what I needed to take my mind off Mary.