"Believe me, Vi, the soul of a pure woman that every man thinks he has a right to make love to is the shyest of all souls. Such a woman sheds innuendo and actions with the proverbial ease of a duck disposing of a shower. But just words--the right words--will bring tears to her eyes. Well, I'd stumbled on the right words." "'No,' she said, with a far-away look, 'I've never had a man hold me like that. Why?'" "'Why?' I said, 'Because I will--some day.'" "'You!'" "I can't give you all the derision she put into that 'you!' Then her face and her eyes went as hard as flint. 'Money?' she asked, and I answered, 'No; love.'" Leighton looked at his cigarette end and flipped it into the fire. "She laughed, of course, and when she laughed she became to me the most unattainable and consequently the most desirable of women. I was at that age. "Well, to cut the story short, I went mad over her, but it wasn't the madness that loses its head. It was just cunning--the cunning with a touch of fanaticism that always reaches its goal. I laid seige to her by day and by night, and at last, one day, she sent for me. She was alone; I could see that she meant us to be alone. She made me sit down. She stood in front of me. To my eyes she had become beautiful. I wanted her, really wanted her. "What she said was this: 'I've sent for you because, if you keep on, you're going to win. No, don't get up. Before you keep on, I want to tell you something about myself--about what I believe with all my soul. I don't have to tell you that I'm a good woman; you know it. The first time you saw me dance you were rather disgusted, weren't you? I nodded. 'What do you think of my dancing now?" "I remember my answer to that. It was: 'You possess people gradually, you hold them forever. It's more than personality with you, it's power.' "Her eyes were fastened on me. They drew mine. 'That's right,' she said; 'look at me. I want you to look at me. You see I'm an ugly woman.' I cried out in protest, and I meant it. Her face went suddenly hard. 'You fool,' she said, 'say that I'm pretty--say it now!' And I cried out at her, 'Not when you look like that. But you can assume beauty. You know it.' "She seemed to pause in her thoughts at that and smiled. 'Can I--for you?' she asked in a way that made her divine. Then she jerked herself back. 'I'm an ugly woman. My body is wonderful. Look!' She raised her long arms, which were bare, gave a half-turn, and glanced at me over her shoulder. An apparently simple movement, but it was consummate in grace and display. 'You see?' she said, with a flashing smile. Then she turned and stood stolidly. 'I didn't have a body worth speaking of once. What I've got I made--every bit of it.' "She sat down sidewise on a chair, folded her arms on the back of it, and looked at me over them. 'I have that power you were speaking of. Do you know just in what consists a woman's power over a man? I'll tell you: in keeping eternally just one thing that he wants.'