Whence it invariably follows that from the incitement of these movements, the head is bent to the side of the soul or to the side of the senses.
"Which is, then, for the head, the side of the soul," you will ask me, "and which the side of the senses?"
I will reply simply, to cut short the useless description of the many drawbacks that preceded the clear demonstration that I finally established, that the side of the heart is the objective side that occupies the interlocutor, and that the side of the senses is the subjective, personal side toward which the head retroacts; that is to say, the side opposed to the object under examination. Thus, when the head moves in an inverse direction from the object that it examines, it is from a selfish standpoint; and when the examiner bends toward the object it is in contempt of self that the object is viewed.
These are the two related looks that I have named Sensuality and Tenderness, for these reasons:
The former of these glances is addressed exclusively to the form of its object; it caresses the periphery of it, and, the better to appreciate its totality, moves away from it. This is what occurs in the retroactive attitude of the head.
The other look, on the contrary, aims at the heart of things without pausing on the surface, disdaining all that is external. It strives to penetrate the object to its very essence, as if to unite itself more closely within it; it has the expression of confidence, of faith--in a word, the giving up of self.
Thus, when a man presses a woman's hand, we may affirm one of three things from the attitude which his head assumes:
1. That he does not love her, if his head remains straight or simply bent in facing her.
2. That he loves her tenderly, if he bows his head obliquely toward her.
3. Finally, that he loves her sensually--that is to say, solely for her physical qualities--if, on looking at her, he moves his head toward the shoulder which is opposite her.