en me, as if on purpose to delight me, a task more
delicious than I ever had to do before. And all the time she stood
absolutely still, patiently waiting till I ended, and looking at me
every time I came round, with raised eyebrows and a smile. And at
last, I could not endure it any longer, and I said: Ah! come back into
my arms, which hunger for thee, and I will answer. And instantly, she
came and stood, listening attentively, and caressing my ear unawares,
as she listened, with her hand. And I said: Thy question is
unanswerable, and my examination nothing to the purpose: since where
was the use of looking at thy lovely body to find what is only to be
found in thy soul, to which thy body owes the essence of even its own
intoxication? For thy soul peeps out, from behind it, in the poise of
thy head, and the straight erectness of its carriage, and the aroma of
the royalty of sex that oozes, as it were, from its every gesture,
mixed, in some unintelligible way, with a soft grace that seems to be
all its own. But the spell thou art asking me to catch for thee looks
from thy eyes, and lurks in thy lips, and murmurs in thy marvellous
voice, which was silent all the while I was considering: and it is,
some naive and submissive gentleness in the quality of thy soul, which
turns all thy other perfections into instruments of delirium, and yet
notwithstanding contradicts them all. For any other woman but thyself
possessing even one of them would be proud, whereas thou dost not even
seem to be aware that there is anything about thee other than the
common. And as it seems to me, it is this, which is the core of thy
irresistible fascination, giving to all thy particular elements of
loveliness a kind of salt, that mixes with their sweetness to drive me
mad.

And she looked at me silently with meditative eyes; and after a while
she said slowly: I wish I were a man, only for a moment, to judge of
myself and thy answer: for in one way thou art right, since I cannot
understand why all men seem to lose their reason, as soon as they see
me. And I said: There it is again, the very thing I spoke of, in thy
words: and it is so simple, and yet so indescribably delicious, that
very glad indeed I am that thou art not a man, but a woman, and that
it is I that am the man. And it would be a crime in the Creator to
gratify thy wish by making thee a man, who art the very essence of all
womanly perfection and attraction. And for satisfaction of thy wi