Man and Maid

I did not tell Maurice of my approaching wedding. I have a plan that he

shall only know when I ask him to come to the Hotel de Courville to be

presented to my wife.

The Fluffies have returned from Deauville, and Coralie and Alice joined

us at luncheon. They have the most exquisite new garments, and were full

of sparkle and gaiety. Alice's wedding, to the rich neutral, seems

really to be coming off. Her air was one of subdued modesty and

gentleness, and when I congratulated her she made the tenderest

acceptance of it, which would have done justice to a young virgin of

the ancien regime! Coralie met my eye with her shrewd small ones, and

we looked away! After lunch we sat in the hall for a little, Maurice

taking Alice to try on her clothes, so Coralie and I were left alone.

"You are looking quite well now Nicholas," she whispered, "Why don't you

ask me to come and dine with you, at your adorable flat,--alone?"

"You would be bored with me before the evening was over."

"Arrange it, and try! Always there are the others, except that night at

Versailles. There is an air with you Nicholas,--one has forgotten all

about your eye. I have thought and thought of you.--You have interfered

with all my pleasures in life!"

"I am going back to England quite soon, Coralie, won't you come now to

the rue de la Paix and let me buy you a little souvenir of all the

lovely times we have had together in the last year?"

So she came, and selected a gem of an opera glass. An opera glass is

discreet, it can be accepted by anyone; even a woman determined to

impress my mind with her dignity and charm, as Coralie was attempting to

do, upon our expedition. She had made up her mind that I should no

longer be just a benefit to the three of them, but her own especial

property, and she is clever enough to see that I am in a mood to admire

dignity and discretion! I spent a most amusing hour with her, enjoying

myself in the spirit of watching a good play at the Comedie Français.

At about four o'clock, when we returned to the Ritz, Coralie was

baffled. I could see that she was keener than ever, and beginning to be

a little worried and unsure of herself!

As I drove back to my flat, taking a roundabout way through the Bois, I

mused and analysed things. And what is the psychological reason for some

presents being quite correct to give and some not? It all goes back to

the re-creative instinct and through what this manifests itself. Gifts

which have any relation to the body, to give it pleasure, or to decorate

it, are the expressions of the sex relationship, and so presumably the

subconscious mind, which only sees the truth in everything, only feels

harmonious when these gifts are given by either parents or relations, as

a dower, so to speak, or the husband or prospective husband. Hence

through the ages, the unconscious relegation of certain presents as

acceptable only from certain people. Any present which gives pleasure to

the mind alone is the tribute of friendship, but those to touch the body

are presumably not. I could give Coralie an opera glass as a mark of my

esteem, but a bracelet which she would wear on her arm would have

another meaning!