Serialized by Patrick George Callaghan Part Eight That night Esme was to be denied the closure of soundless sleep. She lay in the half gloom; her eyes open to a flickering, shapeless room. Emily had made her hot chocolate and settled her down; saying it would help her sleep, but her tickling mind ran with regenerating reliving joy. She had been his pleasure. His delight. He had drenched himself in her body. He had supped his fill of her. He had enjoyed the fruits of her soul and not turned away. She pulled the Eiderdown over her face to remember his kiss. His flesh touching her flesh. His hands ran through the creases of her soft tissue and his mind again penetrated her spirit with its erotic grace. In that heat of airlessness gripping hands pulled back her covering; heapishly throwing her nightclothes to the floor. She lay nude in the reflective hue