“I was looking back to find out if it was true.”
“And is it?”
She gazed down demurely at her folded hands. “I once knew a girl; she didn’t care a straw for her man. He waited for her for five years always hoping, and she made all kinds of cruel jokes about him. Then one night—she didn’t know how it happened—all the ice broke and she felt that she wanted him most awfully. They were alone. Suddenly, without warning and without being asked, she kissed him and put her arms about his neck—— Can you guess what he did? You’re a man. You ought to know.”
“He kissed her back again, I suppose, and after that they were married.”
“Wrong. He picked up his hat and walked out of the house. He’d made her want him ten times worse than he’d ever wanted her. He never went back.”
“But why? I don’t understand.”
They were on Riverside Drive. The taxi was halting. She leant forward and opened the door. “He’d won, don’t you see? Because she’d given in he despised her. It was the holding off that made her value.”
“A parable?”
As she jumped out, she glanced roguishly across her shoulder. “No. A fact.”
To save time, since they both had to dress, they arranged to meet at the theatre. The curtain had gone down on the first act when they entered.