ace one another for fear an incalculable instinct should
carry them to the edge of an abyss.

"As it was, after a while I said a little on the subject to my
friend herself. I had been inclined to think that she might share
my anxiety, but she did not share it at all. She said to me that
she did not like these thoughts, that she cared for me more than
She had ever done for any person except one (now causing most of
her unhappiness), and wanted me in all possible ways, and that it
would make her sad to feel that I was trying not to want her in
one way because I thought it was wrong.

"On my part, I knew very well how much she did need and want me.
I knew that in relations with others she was spending the
greatest effort in following a course that I urged on her, and
was doing what I thought right in spite of the most painful
pressure on her to do wrong; and that she needed all the support
and comfort I could give her. It seemed to me, after our
conversation, that the right path for me lay not in giving way to
fears and scruples, but in giving my friend straightforwardly all
the love I could and all the kinds of love I could. I decided to
keep my eyes open for danger, but meanwhile to go on.

"We were living alone together at the time, and thenceforward we
did as we liked doing. As soon as we could, we moved to a bed
where we could sleep together all night. In the day when no one
was there we sat as close together as we wished, which was very
close. We kissed each other as often as we wanted to kiss each
other, which was very many times a day.

"The results of this, so far as I can see, have been wholly good.
We love each other warmly, but no temptation to nastiness has
ever come, and I cannot see now that it is at all likely to come.
With custom, the localized physical excitement has practically
disappeared, and I am no longer obsessed by imagined embraces.
The spiritual side of our affection seems to have grown steadily
stronger and more profitable since the physical side has, been
allowed to take its natural place."

A class in which homosexuality, while fairly distinct, is only slightly
marked, is formed by the women to whom the actively inverted woman is most
attracted. These women differ, in the first place, from the normal, or
average, woman in that they are not repelled or disgust