"Be patient, my pupil," the sorcerer admonished, and then explainedhis plan in detail, after which Manahsvamin decided that he had come to theright ma... after all. Thereupon the cunning Muladeva escorted the transformed Manahsvaminto the marketplace to buy some clothes, and from hence to the father of theboy's beloved, who was the king himself. Securing an audience, he made ofthe king the following request: "Your Majesty, I have one son, and for him I have asked this girlin marriage and brought. And you are such a busy person! Why, anyone would think that you were avoiding me.’ Joanne tried to keep the noise neutral and noncommittal again, but she was aware that she failed pretty badly at it. She felt the silence stretching out into an awkward pause, and finally she had to break it. ‘It’s nothing personal,’ she said, trying to sound dismissive instead of sheepish. She wasn’t actually all that good at being rude to people. ‘It’s just that you have something of a–‘ She knew she was. My husband would not go back,but I did not know how I could obey against the reaction of my body. I creptout of the bathroom and returned to our bedroom. My husband was taking a showerin the en suite and I knelt outside it to await him. When my husbandcame out he sent me to bed in the spare bedroom with orders to present myselfnaked at 6 am. the following morning. I didn't sleep of course. As I kneltbefore him he said that I was going to receive ten strokes of the cane on mybottom right away.. ”“Yes, I know it. Okay. Noon?”It was obvious she wanted to size me up, in a public place. If I did display serial killer tendencies, she could flee. I was sure she had done a credit check as to my ability to purchase the house. Now she needed to check me out regarding the other matter.We met at noon. I ordered a bottle of wine. She had a salad (keeping that figure of hers), and I had prime ribs. The food was very good. The conversation was amicable and I think we both liked each other..