oped behind the bushes, and Harry saw a flash of white.

"You _are_ a nurse, aren't you," he muttered. "On the staff, I
suppose. I should have known."

"All right, so I am. What's that got to do with it?"

"And I suppose you were telling the truth when you said Manschoff sent
you here. This _is_ just part of my therapy, isn't it?"

She nodded briefly as she slipped into her uniform. "Does that bother
you, Harry?"

He bit his lip. When he spoke, his voice was low. "Yes, damn it, it
does. I mean, I got the idea--at least, I was hoping--that this wasn't
just a matter of carrying out an assignment on your part."

She looked up at him gravely. "Who said anything about an assignment,
darling?" she murmured. "I volunteered."

And then she was gone.

Then she was gone, and then she came back that night in Harry's
dreams, and then she was at the river the next day and it was better
than the dreams, better than the day before.

Sue told him she had been watching him for weeks now. And she had gone
to Manschoff and suggested it, and she was very glad. And they had to
meet here, out in the open, so as not to complicate the situation or
disturb any of the other patients.

So Harry naturally asked her about the other patients, and the whole
general setup, and she said Dr. Manschoff would answer all those
questions in due time. But right now, with only an hour or so to
spare, was he going to spend it all asking for information? Matters
were accordingly adjusted to their mutual satisfaction, and it was on
that basis that they continued their almost daily meetings for some
time.

The next few months were perhaps the happiest Harry had ever known.
The whole interval took on a dreamlike quality--idealized,
romanticized, yet basically sensual. There is probably such a dream
buried deep within the psyche of every man, Harry reflected, but to
few is it ever given to realize its reality. His early questioning
attitude gave way to a mood of mere acceptance and enjoyment. This was
the primitive drama, the very essence of the male-female relationship;
Adam and Eve in the Garden. Why waste time seeking the Tree of
Knowledge?

And it wasn't until summer passed that Harry even thought about the
Serpent.

One afternoon, as he sat waiting for Sue on the river bank, he heard a
sudden movement in the brush behind him.

"Darling?" he called, eagerly.

"Please, you don't know me _that_ well." The deep masculine voice
carried overtone