I've been very busy lately and have not had a lot of time to comment other people's sites much.  For that I'm sorry.  I'll be back to normal soon. 

I wrote something called Wait for Me a while back and I guess this might be a sequel.  The inspiration is the same as before.  If you have not read it, I would suggest you do so first.

It concerns when God's love leaves, but again parallels the unconditional love of a man for a woman. 

 

There's nothing I would not do for you, my love, my fair one, no good thing ever denied you if only you would wait.  That was all, yet you so swiftly move to stir my jealous anger, for you have left your course to chase some far smaller, far dimmer wandering star, unworthy of a single thought of yours, as you only ever thought of yourself, and as I only ever thought of you.

You would discard all the best there is for some worthless momentary pleasure, returning to an ignoble past, the one to which I said never to return, that it can only end in your regret.  And ever though you no longer speak to me, yet will I wait for you with only ever as much patience as you need because I know you are worth the wait.

 

You will see your need for me soon enough, and when you do, I’ll be here with open arms.  No matter how often you nail me to this cross, I will forgive you, because I know that you know not what you do.  You may feel some guilt for these scars of love I bare.  Perhaps then you will see my worth.

I understand this post is lengthy compared to what’s normally read on a metablog.  I attempt to be thorough yet concise. I am simply a careful observer of people and their actions, though I guess that I wouldn’t expect you to believe me considering most of you don’t know me. I have spoken to all age groups of both genders on this topic and have observed consistent division of opinion between them.  I read extensively, as well and widely concerning more than that which pertains to my own era, century, ect., so I take nothing off the wall. 

I do not moralize.  Morality and moralization are very different things. Just because something is called immoral or perverse and is widely accepted as such does not entirely make it so.  Also give different definitions for the same word. 

Fundamentally I’m interested in cause and effect.  If something is classified immoral, I want to know why which is always revealed in the results short or long-term (the latter being most often overlooked since they extended the length of human life) from the choices made. 

The finish is the most essential but over the span of life it is the least observed.  Most individuals have little knowledge of history beyond their own lifespan anyway, little or no knowledge of culture beyond their own, and reject most things that contradict what they’ve been taught.  More often it is experienced as an emotional stigma, the individual quailing in the face of presented results, feeling threatened because of their strong emotional attachment without any other reasoning. 

Of this I am certain, most of you will find at least one element to disagree with, and though my mind is set and this is not an opinion-seeking post, feel free to express yourself, only allow discourse to remain civil.  This is a topic that stirs strong opinions.  I only request that you would listen to “the conclusion of the whole matter” first and that any anger you might experience, instead of ending the reading of this article because somehow it would be a personal threat to you, that it would spur your eyes on till the end and you would view it with a relatively open mind as views, not competing with anyone else’s but as being complete unto themselves.  Your views are not you, but are usually an opinion you have adopted based upon a socio-cultural preference of moralization.  It is not my goal to oppose you; it is only that the details given work as proven throughout recorded history, verses the complete failure of the twentieth century ideas pertaining to the subject.

Intimate Relationships between the sexes to begin in the home
The most beautiful expression of relationships I have ever found was that of 1st Century Judaic tradition.  Both sons and daughters received academic and ecclesiastic training from their mothers till the age of twelve, at which point the sons (and sometimes but not always daughters) would be taken to the temple where their knowledge of the Torah would be tested.  This was a rite of passage into adulthood.  The sons would then begin the vocation of their fathers, usually until the age of twenty.  Sometimes however it was younger, considering the males prosperity and skill and the prosperity of their father. 

Daughters were taught by their mother the necessary skills of cooking and housekeeping till their first menstruation, after which the father would look for them a suitable mate.  The average age of first menstruation was fourteen, but would sometimes be thirteen or fifteen depending upon the individual.

There were several reasons for this practice.  While the male’s responsibility was to make certain his family was taken care of fiscally (which usually meant he must have accrued a minimal reserve of wealth) as well as be physically capable of protecting his family from harm, the wife was to train their children and maintain cleanliness of her house.  As well, the older civilized cultures recognized that true physical adulthood began when the individual was capable of reproduction, whereas a socially and politically correct “magic number” defining instantaneous adulthood is a much more modern hypothetical idea.  The marriage of the daughter also had nothing to do with family resources.  These people were brought up from their youth how to effectively amass wealth in their culture.  In fact, in one of Paul’s many epistles he describes the necessity for women to marry young because some fathers were practicing what many do today, that is postponing the marriage of their daughters.  Jewish families were generally very large, so the siblings shared responsibilities which meant for a great deal of idle time.  As in many cultures, too much time leads to the creation of many unnecessary problems, one of which is gossip.  While the males are out employed in their trade, it would be unlikely that the females would take up crafts for their spare time without supervision, which would be no different for any male if they were not employed.

Now the process of marriage began this way:  The father invited a prospective male of his approval to dine at their house.  He might have been young, or a widower.  Neither mattered as long as the father felt comfortable that this man would please his daughter and take care of her.  After all, the common adage for a daughter was “the apple of my eye.”  Daughters were more often the favored in the household, regardless of the fact that the father first needed sons to advance his business.   (As well the Israelite male was highly favored amongst females of other nations.)

At which point the prospective male had a choice:  He could offer the daughter a cup of grape juice or he could choose not to, in which case there was no insult as the male was under no obligation to do so.

If he did, the daughter had three options.  She could choose to drink all, a symbol that the male was desirable in her eyes and she would marry him.  At this point they were betrothed and the male, after eating, would leave to build her a house as a wedding gift.  And the house was hers, not his.  Despite what some people like to believe, a Hebrew marriage was all about equality.

Her second choice would be to drink only half, which indicated one of two possibilities.  First, she did not feel emotionally ready or, second, she was not certain of the male in question.  In either case the male left and, if she was still unwed a year after, he would be invited to return to offer the grape juice again.

The third choice would be not to drink of it at all, in which case no insult would be extricated from the exchange.

Some might observe the accuracy of these details from the language of the Gospels.  Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane said: “Let this cup pass from me.” Also in John, he states, “I go to prepare a place for you . . .” with Christians being symbolized as Christ’s bride.

All of this may seem foreign to you and outrageous considering the nearest we approach this consisted of a Mormon scandal consisting of forced marriage.  It should be observed however that the daughter’s marriage was fundamentally the choice of both individuals concerning the possible union.

So how much does this differ from the today’s typical family?

Intimate relationships between the sexes outside of the home
At the age of five the children are sent off to a government run schools that hand them crossword puzzles and reads to them until their senior year.  Some of the girls begin menstruating at the age of eight or nine because farmers add estrogen to feed to increase the size of livestock.  Males also become more emotional.  At this age most become aware of and interested in the opposite sex.

I must pause here to note that this last part disturbs me and I know most of you will agree.  I’m not in any way advocating marriage at the age of eight or nine because human beings were never designed to be capable of reproduction so early. This perversion of biology is the result of greed.  With that in mind, most teachers will not advocate abstinence. They would hand out condoms before they ever considered handing out a marriage license.  Meanwhile, parents out of selfishness to keep their children as long as they can, will not allow their children to marry till they are eighteen or older, despite the fact that the only things that happen then universally are that they graduate and are deemed old enough to smoke and vote.  This age marks no biological conclusion in development of any kind for most individuals. By this time they have become desensitized to sex except their desire for it, which most likely is never extinguished, and if they are incapable of it. 

A complement from a male might result in a negative reaction from the female. 

If the female fears her boyfriend will leave her, or that he is too bashful, she may practice some sexuality to “keep him” or “loosen him up,” whether it’s of an oral or copulative nature.  This usually produces the opposite effect.  More than likely the male will have experienced sex before in which case he’ll realize he can achieve a comparative experience from someone else, so his libido is not threatened.  If not, he becomes more insecure, more fearful that he will lose her.  More often he becomes demanding and inhibiting.  The female suddenly is forced to abandon all of her friends.  Any males that might have been like brothers to her can no longer text or hang out with her and she will comply so as not to jeopardize the relationship and so will jeopardize herself instead.  If her friends tell her to break it off, that it isn’t good for her, she’ll persist in spite of them.  It never ends well.

And it does happen in the opposite manner.  One of my friends married an aggressive, emotionally dysfunctional female, despite the fact that everyone--myself included--told him what would happen.  It did and the marriage did not last two months.  The union produced a child.  Think of how he will be raised.

Even when the relationship is not physically violent, it is emotionally violent.  Meanwhile society dictates we marry later and later as the divorce rate climbs, not just because of the psychological effects of sex before marriage, but also because it’s more difficult for most people to adapt to situations as they grow older.  And case study after case study demonstrate that individuals who are sexually active before marriage are more likely to divorce than those who are not.  It isn't a case of moralizing, but it is a case of morality.

The solution
My mother works with someone who was married when she was fourteen.  She’s now in her mid-forties and still happily married.  This is not the only example I know.  I’ve known or spoken to about a dozen couples who were married between the age of fourteen and sixteen.  With some there was close to a decade between them. 

Most of these couples are in their seventies or eighties now, though a couple are in their early to middle forties.  In fact every (without exception) octogenarian I have ever spoken to on the subject would advise anyone to marry young.  Why?  In their words, it’s easier to adapt to another individual.  It’s nothing to do with being “mature enough;” no one ever really is in the beginning.  Often it takes a year, sometimes two to reach that point, but it only ever happens through marriage.

Instead society does not listen to experience. They’ll tell any sixteen or seventeen-year-old who will listen that they’re “too young” for marriage, that they should go out and “live it up,” have some fun while they can.  Society continues to listen to its divorce lawyers who recommend the same, if only to increase their profits.  Society derogatorily calls these sexually active young adults ‘minors’ and the government only ever recognizes a fourteen-year-old female as a woman unless she’s had a child, or a sexually transmitted disease.  These men and women know, at least subconsciously, that they are men and women, which leads to “teen rebellion” because they are being emotionally abused with the system that has been put in place to raise them, and when they’re forty and fifty years old, they are the individuals who scream and curse at their children at the local supermarket.  Now those in their twenties are called tweens.  It seems this is supposed to help prepare us for the universal health care system which is even now being developed as there has been talk that the age of adulthood will be increased to thirty, all in an attempt to make more individuals more dependent and limit maturity, while increasing divorce rates. 

These many psychological results laid out earlier prove that, while sexual desire is obviously a natural sensation, premarital sex is not a natural or healthy experience, yet it has been deemed entirely natural by our society and the majority of parents have fallen for it.  When an eighteen-year-old man falls for a sixteen-year-old woman--as it is natural for a younger woman to fall for the older man, as well as the older man falling for the younger woman--it is suddenly rape (or force) despite that obvious fact that both of them consented to do what society has deemed natural.  I’ve seen this many times myself.  The girl between fifteen and seventeen tells the eighteen to twenty-year-old that she is eighteen, they have sex and the legal system labels the ignorant male a sexual deviant as if he were fifty and fondled eight-years-olds.  It would not surprise me in the least if this made up two-thirds of the sexual “predator” cases.  And don’t be fooled, no form of sexual practice or even sensuality has to occur to be labeled a sexual predator, and it requires no intention.  The government makes it entirely possible for a male older than eighteen to be convicted of third degree sexual assault if he accidentally bumps a female younger than eighteen in a crowd, just as the government gives themselves the option to take away your own flesh and blood if you, let’s say, forbid your daughter from attending prom because she was caught naked with her boyfriend, all of it without any requirement of proof.  (The wary are skeptical of their rulers’ devices.)

Conclusion:  Your choice
I’ve never debated this topic without bringing up all of these elements and a few more which relate to the true intention behind these laws, and though I’ve easily defeated every single person so far in debate on this topic, I’ve yet to turn many minds.  I challenge them, that it is only for their emotional attachment and while they are quick to deny it, the words they use to describe their stance are universally, “I feel.”

But this is not an “I feel” issue.  Emotion and intuition are not the same, either. Results are what matters. Is it wise to choose the least effective method, the method that most likely will end poorly, because society prefers it?  Society itself isn’t for you, it’s against you. There is no respect in society.  There are stories.  There is entertainment.  It sells, whether it’s sex, hatred, making the good evil and the evil good, yet society lacks respect for the individual, for success, and a relationship is all about respect, for yourself and your spouse.  Without respect, your relationship does not work.  It might hang together by a strand of hair, but it won’t be loving.  Without that respect, your children will love and respect you less as well.

You see the goal is not to raise children, but to raise adults and somewhere along the line parents have lost sight of this in an attempt to give their children “a better life” by giving them “everything I never had,” as if this could somehow be better for them.  They’re babied, coddled, spoiled, whatever term you prefer best, none of them teaches them respect.

I’ve observed the results of this line of thinking and, when it succeeds, it is only an inferior form of what could have been. 

Before the Great Depression it was not unreasonable to find a job at twelve, and to be capable of supporting a family at fourteen.  Not very long ago, it would not have been difficult to still find at the very least a part-time job at fourteen.  Now it's difficult enough to find a job before you're eighteen and it would be the same if the government wasn't spending itself into an economic meltdown.  We're an entire generation teaching the next to be irresponsible.  If we want our world to improve, we need to rethink how our children are being raised.

Freedom?  Who needs it?  It’s so overrated!

I mean the other day an American citizen who grew up in Cuba called a talk show.  Stupid terrorist.  He said his greatest fear was that America would become like Cuba, not through military forces, but with out our appliances.  He said he saw it coming.

How in the world?  He had to have been exaggerating.  I mean so what that the major search engines monitor your searches and make them available to the government and big businesses.  So what, the government tracks your income, your investments, your charitable giving through the IRS.  So what, the Great and Wonderful Lord Obama announced that his team was working on a new thermostat that mill monitor your energy consumption, while his glorious throne room, the Oval Office is heated at eighty degrees Fahrenheit.  They would never!  I mean, we need to give up our selfish desires to serve our government.  Another step in the direction of Nineteen Eighty-Four.  But it’s all wonderful, very wonderful, because freedom is evil and any one supporting and desiring freedom is a terrorist.

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

We should respect dictators like Fidel Castro who has murdered over sixteen thousand of his own citizens with more than a hundred thousand locked away in slave labor camps, because he’s good.  China’s leaders have killed millions of it’s own people, so they’re good.  Mahmoud Ahmadinedjad has on many occasions announced that he would like to annihilate Israel and he harbors and sponsors terrorists in his own country, so he’s definitely good.  Did I just say terrorists?  Wait, wait. I mean insurgents.  Lord Obama has unveiled his divine will that we should not say 'terrorists' to reference to people who killed for 72 virgins in the afterlife.  We’re no longer to call them terrorists.  Naughty, naughty me.  Because they are victims.  You can’t blame them for strapping bombs to their backs and killing innocent men, women and children.  Besides, it’s their innocence that makes them guilty.  How dare they be innocent?

No, Americans who stand up for the Constitution, they are the real terrorists.  America is a nation founded on terrorism.  The Founding Fathers were terrorists.  They fought the British and King George III, their rightful Lords and Masters.  Now the British are our allies.  Terrorists!

And the Boston Massacre wasn’t against civilians.  No!  They were terrorists!

We should support the writings of Marx.  He was a wonderful genius.  He inspired the Chinese Communist leaders who, as stated previously, were cool dudes, as was Joseph Stalin, who was awesome enough to murder at least three million people.  And then there was Adolf Hitler who said he hated Marx, but then he was a socialist, and socialists generally get there ideas from Marx, so, ya, Hitler, another really cool dude. 

Think about it.  Without Marx there might never have been an Iron Curtain.  The U. S. S. R.  The United Soviet Socialist Republic.  And the NAZI’s, the National Worker’s Socialist Party would have never been the same.  His writings have inspired the deaths of tens of millions and the enslavement of billions.  What a wonderful man!  And socialism, how wonderful!  The idea that government and only government should control everything and steal your money from you to give to other people who haven't earned it for the common good, so those people continue to sit around and do nothing and benefit no one, not even themselves.

We are the one’s we’ve been waiting for.  Change we can believe in.  Yes, we can.  Hope and change, and hope for change.

So why wait for the government to cause economic collapse to take from us what remains of our freedom?  Let’s give it up now.  After all, this is the change most of you voted for.

“You can’t eat that; it has too many trans fats!”  “Thank you, sir, thank you; you are so wonderful!”

“You can’t drive that; it doesn’t get ninety miles to the gallon.  We’ll melt it down for you and not give you anything.  “You are so generous, kind sir.”

“You can’t procreate any more, it doesn’t matter that we killed your son just last week for giving a member of congress the middle finger.”  “You’re so understanding and we adore you!”

I have an idea for a new video game.  You can choose from any good member of congress.  Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, anybody.  Then you kill the Founding Fathers.  “Mommy, mommy, I just blew Thomas Jefferson’s head off with my rocket launcher.  Now there’ll never be a Constitution, so our wonderful president won’t have to admit on a local Chicago radio station that he would never choose anyone for Supreme Court Justice if they supported the Constitution.   This is the shizzle!”  “That’s wonderful, Sweetheart.”  And then if you kill enough of them, you’ll open the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, our Lord God and Saviour Barack Hussein Obama, who can never be injured or run out of ammo.

“No, no, we have just now made video games illegal.”  “Yes, you are messengers from the Most High God, my Lord and Saviour Barack Hussein Obama; I would do anything for him.  I would kill my mom for him.”  “Yes, my son, that would be so wonderful, so sacrificial of you.”

(By the way, this is my political stance thanks to http://www.politicalcompass.org.  Woo-hoo!)

Economic Left/Right: 0.62
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.03

I can reference many examples of absolutely asinine cultural superstitions:  “Man-made global warming is not a hoax!”  “We are seriously over-populated!”  “Kanye West is Jesus!”  (Or if you’ve heard the news lately, “Kanye West is still Jesus!”)  My purpose for this post isn’t to discuss these topics, though the first two are so easy to disprove, even for me, (and has been done already by people more qualified), that it isn’t worth my time. 

Instead, I want you as the reader to consider why you might have unfriended.  To begin with, you and I are sitting behind computer screens, maybe even half the world away.  Yet your “fight or flight” responses have been activated.  You. Feel. Threatened.  Why?  I can’t shoot you with my Red Rider bb gun.  Ideas are not going to drive you to insanity, fast-food binges, or an early grave.  Unless you let them.  They’re issues; they aren’t part of you.  It’s not violence you fear.  It’s the fear of being wrong.  Just admit it.  It might be that you realize your knowledge of a given topic is insignificant, yet you still hold on as if it were drift wood and you’re immersed in river rapids.  Or it might just be that your subconscious mind is telling your conscious mind, “Haha! you sucker!” 

Now the mature thing to do would be to immerse yourself in both sides of the issue obsessively with an open mind.  Construct scenarios, look for possible contradictions, attempt to justify those contradictions and not decide until you have exhausted the topic, which is true.  Of course this is the mature, intelligent method, but you don’t need me to tell you this one; you already know it, if you just thought about it.  Seriously, you’re __ years old.  Grow up.  And you have a Xanga; if you can’t handle that responsibility, you shouldn’t have one.

There’s always the other option.  You could continue to do what the government wants and believe them and your teacher.  (Don’t get me wrong; there a few good public school teachers.)  Then everything will be all right.  It’s much easier for you and the government because you’ll be insecure then as you are now and ready to pee your pants because you can’t find Mommy.  More importantly, you’ll continue to unfriend people who just might have taught you something important.  There, you‘re still stupid, which means that you‘re still a respectable member of society.  You fit in!  Congratulations.

Oh, and if you really believe Kanye is Jesus, this post does not apply to you, so unfriend to your heart’s content.

I just posted this Infiniti Weekend Getaways widget for 500 credits. You can earn free credits too!

The stimulus plan is only the beginning.  It still is not clear to many government officials where the bank bailout money went, though it seems that some unnamed (and therefore currently improvable) government insiders claim the money is going toward a satellite specifically for the purpose of a new digital monetary system.  A new chip is in the final stages of development for the implantation of human beings, and none without it would be able to buy or sell. 

One more currency has been developed, however, which should appear before.  It’s called the Amero, and it’s been rumored to be in the works for some years.  Not till recently has it been confirmed.  Look for it to appear after the US dollar tanks.  Take significant note:  It would also be used in Canada and Mexico, eliminating American sovereignty, annulling the constitution.  An underground highway is currently being built that, when completed, will unite all of North America into a single entity.

With this new currency, gold will have no value unless you have been implanted with the chip.  This will likely happen to earlier than 2013.

Don’t be deceived, this is no accident, and Obama is only the willing puppet.  These plans have been around for some time and, as Time Magazine has announced, it’s inevitable.  The media, however, is trying to get you used to the idea, that it’s good.  That will be your decision to make.

And if you say no, well, there are 800 nice FEMA concentration camps ready and waiting, capable of holding tens of millions of people, with such great perks as prison rape awaiting you and, when they begin to overflow, glorious decapitation will follow.  Don’t believe it?  If you’re smart and you really care, you’ll look into it yourself.  If you're not, don’t worry about it.  It's couldn't be true anyway.

I’ve been thinking about this post all week and some of last.  I initially intended it to be prose, but as ideas came, they formulated into poetry.  These ideas were not in order, however, and I felt once it was complete and orderly, that it was better left in paragraphs.

I wanted it to apply to relationships between a man and woman, but also between God and us.  I don’t know how successful I was; I just hope that this piece is half as beautiful as it should be.  Inspiration is a funny thing; perfect execution is rare and when it happens, it cannot live up to its source.

I’ve been searching all the world, all my life; I’ve been waiting so long alone for you.  Then I found you, or we found each other as it seems, a smile shared, and I swear we’ve dreamed, our bodies separated and our souls together in between.  When the dreams cease, we are once more apart.  I long to see you always with these eyes and though I’d love to reach out now, I know the moment isn’t right.  I cannot tell you yet but you’ll have to trust.  Just wait for me, with only ever as much patience as you need, because you know that I am worth the wait.

I’ve wanted you, heart, body and mind, that I’d be ever in your mind as you’re in mine and you’d not resign to any other, but that love would be forever ours to share, unbroken in our hearts.  Let the past remain in its backward place and don’t look there; you are not who once you were.  And as you wait for me, I’ll wait for you, with only ever as much patience as I need, because I know that you are worth the wait.

Well my last movie list was a disappointment in that I forgot to mention Le Pacte de Lupe (nothing but the Director’s Cut is good enough), but how can I squeeze eleven titles into a list of ten?

Anyway, this is a list of favorite love stories, even though a few would not be conventionally classified as such.  Again the morality issue is the same as last.

10. The Princess Bride
9.   Ever After
8.   THX 1138
7.   True Romance:  Director’s Cut
6.   A History of Violence
5.   Legends of the Fall
4.   The Notebook
3.   What Dreams May Come
2.   Gattaca
1.   The Fountain

So what are YOUR favorites (that don't have to be in my list)?

He makes a cut figure; he’s a Mordred, a James Dean.  When he’s cool, his eyes are ice; angry, his eyes are aflame.

You call him your man but he makes no alliance except with himself.  He only wants your body for his own pleasure, and though you know it, you try to convince yourself otherwise.  He bears no love for you; he’s violent, he hates everything, but you think you can change him.  You are so sweet, so nieve.  So foolish.  It was one of your philosophers who said, “If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”  You should heed the warning.

Yes, I know he is not Satan.  I know that he is mortal flesh, yet he walks in his father’s footsteps.  Do not doubt, I knew his father.  He was the most favored, the greatest of us, but decided this was not enough.  He was proud, powerful, beautiful.  And bitter.  He fell with a raised fist, as will your rebel.  They both may be princes now, both maybe gods of this world, but they shall die as men before the end.

Yes, I knew his father. 

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.

Since is the week of Valentine's (no duh), my posts will be pertaining to love.  Most of them, at least.  I have a little unfinished business yet, but no time for it at the moment, so I'll complete that tonight.

For now, enjoy this classic short story (that I did not write).


The Kiss by Kate Chopin
It was still quite light out of doors, but inside with the curtains drawn and the smouldering fire sending out a dim, uncertain glow, the room was full of deep shadows.
    Brantain sat in one of these shadows; it had overtaken him and he did not mind. The obscurity lent him courage to keep his eyes fastened as ardently as he liked upon the girl who sat in the firelight.
    She was very handsome, with a certain fine, rich coloring that belongs to the healthy brune type. She was quite composed, as she idly stroked the satiny coat of the cat that lay curled in her lap, and she occasionally sent a slow glance into the shadow where her companion sat.  They were talking low, of indifferent things which plainly were not the things that occupied their thoughts. She knew that he loved her--a frank, blustering fellow without guile enough to conceal his feelings, and no desire to do so. For two weeks past he had sought her society eagerly and persistently. She was confidently waiting for him to declare himself and she meant to accept him. The rather insignificant and unattractive Brantain was enormously rich; and she liked and required the entourage which wealth could give her.
    During one of the pauses between their talk of the last tea and the next reception the door opened and a young man entered whom Brantain knew quite well. The girl turned her face toward him. A stride or two brought him to her side, and bending over her chair--before she could suspect his intention, for she did not realize that he had not seen her visitor--he pressed an ardent, lingering kiss upon her lips.
    Brantain slowly arose; so did the girl arise, but quickly, and the newcomer stood between them, a little amusement and some defiance struggling with the confusion in his face.
    "I believe," stammered Brantain, "I see that I have stayed too long.  I--I had no idea--that is, I must wish you good-by." He was clutching his hat with both hands, and probably did not perceive that she was extending her hand to him, her presence of mind had not completely deserted her; but she could not have trusted herself to speak.
    "Hang me if I saw him sitting there, Nattie! I know it's deuced awkward for you. But I hope you'll forgive me this once--this very first break.  Why, what's the matter?"
    "Don't touch me; don't come near me," she returned angrily. "What do you mean by entering the house without ringing?"
    "I came in with your brother, as I often do," he answered coldly, in self-justification. "We came in the side way. He went upstairs and I came in here hoping to find you. The explanation is simple enough and ought to satisfy you that the misadventure was unavoidable. But do say that you forgive me, Nathalie," he entreated, softening.
    "Forgive you! You don't know what you are talking about. Let me pass. It depends upon--a good deal whether I ever forgive you."
    At that next reception which she and Brantain had been talking about she approached the young man with a delicious frankness of manner when she saw him there.
    "Will you let me speak to you a moment or two, Mr. Brantain?" she asked with an engaging but perturbed smile. He seemed extremely unhappy; but when she took his arm and walked away with him, seeking a retired corner, a ray of hope mingled with the almost comical misery of his expression. She was apparently very outspoken.
    "Perhaps I should not have sought this interview, Mr. Brantain; but--but, oh, I have been very uncomfortable, almost miserable since that little encounter the other afternoon. When I thought how you might have misinterpreted it, and believed things"--hope was plainly gaining the ascendancy over misery in Brantain's round, guileless face--"Of course, I know it is nothing to you, but for my own sake I do want you to understand that Mr. Harvy is an intimate friend of long standing.  Why, we have always been like cousins--like brother and sister, I may say. He is my brother's most intimate associate and often fancies that he is entitled to the same privileges as the family. Oh, I know it is absurd, uncalled for, to tell you this; undignified even," she was almost weeping, "but it makes so much difference to me what you think of--of me." Her voice had grown very low and agitated. The misery had all disappeared from Brantain's face.
    "Then you do really care what I think, Miss Nathalie? May I call you Miss Nathalie?" They turned into a long, dim corridor that was lined on either side with tall, graceful plants. They walked slowly to the very end of it. When they turned to retrace their steps Brantain's face was radiant and hers was triumphant.

Harvy was among the guests at the wedding; and he sought her out in a rare moment when she stood alone.
    "Your husband," he said, smiling, "has sent me over to kiss you."
    A quick blush suffused her face and round polished throat. "I suppose it's natural for a man to feel and act generously on an occasion of this kind. He tells me he doesn't want his marriage to interrupt wholly that pleasant intimacy which has existed between you and me. I don't know what you've been telling him," with an insolent smile, "but he has sent me here to kiss you."
    She felt like a chess player who, by the clever handling of his pieces, sees the game taking the course intended. Her eyes were bright and tender with a smile as they glanced up into his; and her lips looked hungry for the kiss which they invited.
    "But, you know," he went on quietly, "I didn't tell him so, it would have seemed ungrateful, but I can tell you. I've stopped kissing women; it's dangerous."
    Well, she had Brantain and his million left. A person can't have everything in this world; and it was a little unreasonable of her to expect it.