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--Not Mad

Rose sed hard and read on

Dear Not Mad,

Normally I approach my columns with a certain amount of jocularity (Never tell this to my readers; they would never believe it) But your situation has moved me to seriousness You must work yourself up to your desires, bit by bit Before you can dance on your uncle’s grave (I assume this to be on your list), you rass On the next visit, be sure to tap your toe and hu in the ce partner, consider yours truly

Sincerely,

Stephen Shaughnessy

Actual Man

"You see?" Patricia said "He’s flirting--publicly--with another woman That’s the sort of man he is Just keep that in mind the next time you encounter him" She nodded as if she had proven a point

Rose shook her head It wasn’t flirting, noto Mrs Barnstable had been flirting It was…kind of hieous sort of way It hurt to read it, not because she thought him unfaithful, but because she could hear him in it, all of him

I don’t have hidden shallows, he’d told her Maybe he didn’t She suspected that if she judged him by his column, she would see…

A man who offered to dance with a woman who had been badly wounded A man who mocked other men when they made too much of their own ih, even when they suffered She had never looked at him and seen a bad man, and the more she looked, the deeper she fell

That, perhaps, erous specimen of all

He liked people He liked her She suspected he’d told her the si to seduce her

He was just succeeding at it

"THIS WILL BE OUR LAST LESSON," Rose said, when Mr Shaughnessy had settled himself into her office two days later "There is only so much you need to learn, and after tomorrow I shall be flooded ork We’ll have data from the transit of Venus--and once we have that, there will be star charts to update, and I shall be up to er"

Mrs Barnstable looked up at that, but she had a report to type for her husband, and the noise of the typewriter drowned out their conversation

The truth was that Rose should never havewas the word she’d used, but charhnessy was never innocent

He was not watching her innocently now

That was the proble to her She could feel hiet herself every day she ith hi as he was around her, he would lead her astray