CHAPTER VII

“I heard in the morning news that Acquilla had to go to New Orleans,” she said with a significant smile, “and stole this opportunity for a tête-à-tête.”

“You were casual enough last night,” I remarked, trying to assume an indifference that my racing pulse violently denied.

“You forget that Acquilla was present,” replied Dianne, looking at me tenderly. “But first, go to the direction box and press the button that is illuminated by a green fight. That is the isolator. There is no need of anyone listening in on our conversation. You’ve done it? Good. Now we can lunch together--just by ourselves.”

“Lunch? But where are you, my delightful but capricious friend?”

“I? In Chicago.”

“But then?”

“True, you are still a barbarian, Bogardus. But I find a certain charm in that,” she added with one of those appraising smiles with which women in my day used to suggest that the approach to intimacy need not be unnecessarily prolonged. “Well, to explain to you the simplest thing in the world; have your lunch served before you, I will do the same and we shall talk as we eat. You look surprised? Why, I often lunch with friends in Paris or Vienna.”

Now as a matter of pride I had promised myself to show no astonishment, whatever I discovered in my new experience. But this time I was caught as flat as a country bumpkin translated to the complexities of the metropolis. To hide my confusion I turned and gave my orders to Mag, who received them with such evident ill-humor that I had to speak to her sharply. The table was brought. I sat down and so complete was the illusion that my fascinating companion appeared to be seated across it enjoying my bewilderment.

Of all the innovations which I had encountered so far, I must say that this one pleased me the most; for not only were you free to select or leave your company at a moment’s impulse, but each was assured of the menu he preferred. What terrors of the society I had known could have been eliminated by this simple device! To recover my authority, I leaned forward and said:

“My dear Dianne, there is one thing must be understood between us. There is no use telling you that I adored you from the moment I saw you. And I am going to be bold enough to say that I felt at once the attraction was mutual. However, I refuse to be treated like--well, like what you call a man today. In other words I forbid _you_ to make love to _me_,” I concluded with a smile.

Dianne’s eyes opened wide, she drew back and then craned forward eagerly.

“How exciting! Of course, in your day it _was_ the man who pursued.”

“And I want it distinctly understood that I _am_ a man of my day and not a spineless dehydrated invertebrate your civilization has probably made of my noble sex.”

Dianne’s glance met the ardor of my gaze without yielding, but I was gratified to observe a pleasant convulsive shudder of her adorable shoulders.

“How strange, but how thrilling! Go on, Bogardus,” she said. It was not so much feminine coquetry as a feline curiosity.

“We shall see,” I thought, “if the old instincts are entirely gone.”

“My adorable Dianne,” I continued. “This is quite the most alluring way of staging a romance one could imagine. In my day, it was the telephone which supplied the thrills. But how simple and primitive compared to this.”

“How interesting--but of course to us this is a commonplace.”

“Then I have the advantage over you. I assure you I am already head over heels in love. Was anything ever more delightful or more tantalizing? I sit here. I look into your lovely eyes. I hear your charming voice. I watch every graceful movement of your body and when I reach out my hand, you elude me. What wouldn’t our coquettes have given to possess such a power of mystification!”

“Bogardus, were you run after by lots of women?” said Dianne.

I reflected. I did not wish to appear too modest. After all, history was as I chose to create it and this feeling I must confess gave me an extraordinary assurance.

“In my day, your sex pretended to be the courted, though a great many satirists insisted the opposite was true. However, I was never exactly lonely.”

“How strange to hear a man talk like this, but go on. I like it, though it gives me a funny feeling when you look at me so boldly.”

“Dianne,” I said, beginning to lose my head a little. “You, a great artist should know great loves. Scientifically and socially, I confess, you have done miracles, but what have you not lost in the conquest--laughter and love!”

“But Bogardus dear--”

“Stop. It is impossible to give a sentimental note to the name of Bogardus--”

“I confess it is rather a mouthful.”

“My name for sentimental purposes is Jack.”

“Jack,” she repeated, lingering over the sound.

“I have even been called Jacko.”

Dianne clapped her hands.

“How delightful. But Jacko, my dear--laughter--what do you mean by laughter? Is it those funny faces you made a while ago?”

“Laughter,” I said majestically, “was undoubtedly the invention of the first man who challenged the phantoms of the gods who oppressed him. Laughter is the will to be happy despite all the sorrow and suffering life is afflicted with. It is man’s triumph over his destinies.”

“But we have done away with sorrow and suffering.”

“True!” I said, struck by the thought. “Perhaps without tears, laughter _is_ impossible.”

“Can’t you teach me to laugh, Jacko?”

“It is possible,” I said, struck by a sudden inspiration. “Tonight we shall see.”

Dianne’s expression changed swiftly.

“Dear, it was specially about tonight I wanted to warn you--”

“I know. Acquilla is jealous.”

“How quick you are. Does she suspect your true feelings?”

“She is suspicious, but I flatter myself--”

“Be careful, be extremely careful. Acquilla wants you for herself.”

“What of it?” I replied, shrugging my shoulders. “After all, Acquilla is a woman of seventy-six and youth must be served!”

“True, but Acquilla is implacable and if she even suspected that you were going to escape her--”

“Well, even then?” I asked anxiously as Dianne hesitated.

“I must tell you all the truth,” said Dianne making up her mind abruptly. “For you should be warned. You see, your arrival has caused a tremendous commotion. For Bogar--for Jacko, you are not like the men of today. You represent another civilization. You are so resplendently what men must have been. And just now that is very dangerous, dangerous to you!”

“Why?”

“Because in the last ten years, there has grown up a new radical school that is preaching the rehabilitation of men.”

“What--Votes for Men?”

“Exactly. You see how disturbing your arrival is to the powers that be. You will be brought before the Supreme Council--I know for a fact that already they have been deliberating over your case. Be on your guard when you are questioned--” Dianne stopped and leaning forward plunged her glance into mine. “Be careful for my sake.”

“Now you are making love to me, which is contrary to orders,” I said smiling. “But what danger do I run?”

“You could be suppressed as a menace to society.”

“Murdered, or if you wish, executed?”

“Oh, no, but you would be returned to the Frigidrome and sent into another century.”

“I see, an ingenious way of abolishing capital punishment.” But despite my bravado, I felt the beginnings of uneasiness. “Is the situation really so serious?”

“Yes. For already the male suffrage movement is a problem. Acquilla has tremendous power. She can protect you so long as she is personally interested--”

“I understand. To tell the truth, my instincts did warn me.”

“You see. Be careful, dear, be very careful.”

“Say ‘for my sake’ again,” I said, looking at her boldly, “but drop your eyes as you say it.”

Dianne glanced at me in surprise, her glance wavered a moment and then fell away.

“What a strange effect you have on me,” she said in a low voice.

“Say it,” I repeated insistently as I felt my growing power.

“For my sake, dearest,” she said in a whisper.

“Ah, my darling Dianne,” I cried, “if only I could jump through space and snatch you up in my arms this very moment.”

Dianne raised her eyes and again averted them.

“Truly, dear, you have the weirdest effect on me. I have never known anything quite--quite like this before.”

“Dianne darling, I promise you that you will know what love once meant between man and woman,” I continued impulsively. “Not your eugenic, cold-blooded matings, but the love that stirs and tortures you, the love that is pleasure and pain, that is madness and ecstasy, that takes its moment and accepts the price, whatever it has to pay.”

I stretched out my hands and Dianne’s lovely fingers, as her flushed face turned to me, seemed already to yield to my clasp, when suddenly with a click, the whole mirage vanished before my eyes. The door opened and Mag came in.

“Acquilla is just returning,” she said looking at me sulkily. “Quick. Keep her outside, while I get the table out of sight.”

From which, I gathered that certain primitive instincts still persisted and that Mag, after the tradition of servants, had been listening at the door.