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     They left the girl on the mound and walked back to the boating-pond. Jakie gave Pugsey the dollar rather sourly.

     Pugsey didn't want him to feel bad about it, so he said: “You're a smart guy, Jakie. I didn't really think it would work.”

     Jakie took the little bottle out of his pocket and fondled it. “I knew it would,” he said, with a thin grimace that served him as a smile. “But it was a good thing she didn't look too close, the bottle's empty.” He went to the edge of the pond and carefully dipped the bottle in, filling it with the muddy water. “It wouldn't do to make the same mistake twice.”

     Pugsey said: “Naw, but these dames are pretty dumb. They wouldn't notice nothin'.”

     Together they went out of the park, moving slightly less rhythmetically than they had when they came in.

THE PLACE OF LOVE

1

     She lay very still on the bed, vaguely conscious that she ought not to be there; that she ought to be doing something very important, but what it was she couldn't remember.

     She moved her long legs, feeling the smooth linen sliding over her flesh. What had she to do? Something... What was it? She couldn't remember. It was all too much trouble. Everything was too much trouble.

     In the distance the note of a ship's siren sounded, a soft, gentle wail. Her heart missed a beat, but still she didn't move. Now, she remembered. The ship, of course. It sailed at two o'clock. They had said repeatedly that they were not waiting for anyone. Something was going to happen in Havana. They didn't say what it would be. They didn't even admit that it was going to happen, but by a little gesture, by the apprehensive look in their eyes, by the flurry they all were in, one gathered that something was going to happen that couldn't possibly be pleasant.

     The little, pock-marked steward, when he had given her her coat, had emphasized the necessity of being on board by midnight. He was nice, in spite of his pock-marks, and she made a point of assuring him that she would be back before then. She would have been if she hadn't met Lacey.

     She moved restlessly. Lacey. She saw him as he was the previous night. Tall, very clean-looking in his white evening clothes. He was good to look at. Any woman would have thought so. His lean face, his full lips, and the jeering, cynical look he had in his eyes.

     He had joined the boat at Bahama. As soon as he came on board the women began to talk about him. He was that kind of a man.

     She pressed her fingers to her aching head. God! She must have been tight, as tight as she had been crazy—that must have been very, very tight. She wanted to go to sleep again, but she began remembering, and as the memory of the previous night built up in her mind, sleep retreated.

     Oh yes, he had been awfully nice. It was by the sheerest coincidence that he happened to be going ashore as she stepped on the gang-plank. She had planned to see Havana with a Mr. and Mrs. Skinner. They were nice people, elderly, kindly and safe—nice people.

     Lacey had jeered at them. He had shaken his head at her, behind their backs, as they prepared to take her away on a stately little drive along the brightly lit Havana waterfront. Then he had stepped forward. It was all done so smoothly. She couldn't remember what he had said, but it must have been horribly smooth and just right, because the Skinners went away, smiling. They even looked back and waved, leaving her alone with him. Oh yes, she had to admit that it was all very neat and clever. He had taken her into the heart of Havana. He seemed to know all the unexpected places. He didn't take her to the show places, but to all the exciting little cafes and houses, as if he owned the place.

     He talked. She began gathering the top of the sheet unconsciously into a tight, long rope. Yes, he had talked. At first, he said amusing things. He did what very few people could do, he made her laugh. Then later, in the evening, after they had a few drinks, he began to flatter her. It wasn't eye-talk stuff. It was shockingly personal, and it made her go hot, but because of the velvety strength of the drinks he had given her she didn't go away from him as she ought to have done. So it went on until she suddenly realized that she was getting dangerously light-headed. She stopped drinking, but she couldn't stop him talking. He said, in a charming way, the most outrageous things. She felt herself being drawn to him entirely against her will. It was as if something inside her was going out to him, leaving her weak and without resistance.

     She remembered wondering when he would touch her. She knew, beyond any doubt, that he would touch her. Why else did he continue to stare at her with such intentness?

     He seemed in no hurry. That was because he was so confident. Even in small things he was always confident. Small things, as lighting a cigarette, walking through a crowded room, or ordering a meal.