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Show Moon -13 say, "No!" As it was, James knew the conventions: he paid compliments, ordered dinner in correct French, tasted the wine, stood up when she left to powder her nose. He wore his dress uniform and looked like a man with much authority. He did not, however, notice her. She was sure of this, but she did not have a strong enough sense of herself to mind as much as she should have. It wasn't something she could put into words, but it seemed that his compliments were directed more at his own good taste than at her. He stared at her intently, but his eyes were actually cold, and he assumed a certain air of self-importance about his Army work, which was, he said, top secret-but oh, not nearly as fascinating as she. Yet as a subject, she felt she didn't offer him much. He didn't seemed interested, really, in art or in her fumbling efforts to explain why she loved selling train tickets. As a subject, she was finally object, someone he liked to describe, the way for some people a painting exists as an opportunity to display one's authority. "You are a nice girl," he said. "You are very sweet. You have hazel eyes that change with the light." She did not quite like him, for her instincts were excellent, but she couldn't listen well to them, for no one had ever told her how astute she really was. And she missed David, remembering with what was almost regret that she had not yet allowed him to touch her breasts. At the doorway, James took his kiss and got her to promise she'd see him the next time he came to Chicago, which would be, he assured her, the next time he was given leave. In making the promise, something in her became subdued, like a small animal that knows it has to wait quietly where it can watch and not be seen. He held his cap in front of himself like an empty offering. "I know what I want," he said. "I am determined to marry you," he said. Just like that. Yes, it would be like him to assume he'd won her, just as he later assumed things about |