When we finished our tea, Clarissa and I went up to my room to talk in private.“How did it go?”“About as well as I could have hoped. Her dad fli...ped his lid, but calmed down somewhat relatively quickly after I spoke to him privately and basically challenged him to act in a Christian manner.”“I would have loved to see that,” Clarissa said with a wry smile. “So?”“So he calmed down somewhat, as I said, and Tasha and I went to dinner, with his blessing, and then I dropped Tasha at home. I didn’t go. When he left he had pink eye shadow and luscious redlips. His eyebrows had been tweezed to a fine line with an arch tothem. His fingernails were bright red and extended almost an inchfrom the ends of his fingers. He carried a cosmetic bag along withhis purse. He returned to Harriet's office and had to wait as she was seeinga client. The secretary asked him if he wanted to help her filesome papers. He agreed and soon was filing like he was meant tohave that job. A half hour later Harriet's. “I want to be honest with you,” I said to her, later, as we lay exhausted and entwined. “When you stood before me with your knife, and let it run down my body, I showed you my trust, didn’t I? But I did not. At any moment, had you changed your grip and tried to stab me, I could have killed you.”“I know,” she said. “And I had trusted you.” She took my hand, and led me out of the bed, onto the plush white carpet. A comb from her nightstand served for a knife, she touched me with it lightly. “But. She hain't as pretty as some a'these locals, but a good woman, a widow. Damn shame. Her man and my brother, they was friends, too, an' both of 'em died on the ship." Undt?" Martz used the lamp to light his pipe and puffed contentedly, linking his hands across his belly."Don' know where she is. I promised 'er, well, promised that I'd find 'er when I was free, free t'marry." You ask her to marry vith you?" No, not really," Matthew scratched his head and tried to remember if he had. He did not.