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The mother said, “Aldred has a tender heart.”

The youth blushed. “Not tender enough, perhaps.”

Raimonda pushed a fugitive pea in his direction. “Tender enough. But reluctant to show.”

And this was a girl he had kissed with abandon.

“One was raised that way. Schools strict. Parents n…

He said, "I am near thirty-four years of age, and live with too much vacancy." She saw his rectitude existing in a cleared space like his parents' uncluttered house. He told her, "You cannot imagine--well, I do not mean that unkindly. But you, with your completeness--love, children, beauty, troops …

"I've not seen you since."

It was the mingling of great and trivial that could not be misunderstood.

He went on, "Yet we are so close."

She fell silent, leaning back into colours and shadows of the room: not in fulfillment, which could hardly be, but in voluptuous calm, at peace. Her hand …