but kept her cheek in contact with his thigh, her head down. Too, she held to his leg, as before. Brenner could not forget the feel of her body, the softness of it as it had been pressed so closely against him in the girl’s terror, her apparent fear of the proprietor, that unspeakable, luscious softness which was doubtless intended to be betrayed by the bit of yellow silk she wore. How that softness had alarmed him, and disturbed him!
Brenner took another drink, angrily.
He was furious that he had agreed to come with Rodriguez. He had originally resolved to remain in the hostel. He realized now he should have done so. Too, he could have gotten something to eat there. But he had decided not to remain there. He had been afraid to stay there, not that there was any real danger. And he had certainly been pleased to follow Rodriguez to the hostel. The day had been, as it remained, chilly, and what with the rain, and enough wind to drive the chill through one’s jacket, he had been miserable. When Rodriguez and he, soaked and cold, with their bags, had entered the hostel, he had seen, behind, and above, the desk, squatting in a large ring, suspended on a chain hung from the ceiling, a small, large-eyed, furred creature. He had originally taken this to be a pet of some sort but it had swung down from the ring to the desk, and, in a bit, had welcomed and registered them. Shortly thereafter, too, it had with one small, prehensile, black-toed foot, punched a bell, in response to which a large, shambling, slothlike creature hove into view, who seized up their bags and began to ascend the stairs. Ascending rings hung to one side, for the use of those who might prefer them to the stairs. The stairs were broad, and coarsely carpeted, to accommodate various sorts of grasping or locomotory appendages. The desk clerk, if Rodriguez was right in his identification, as it seemed probable he would be, was a Chian lemet, whereas the porter, if we may call him that, was a hirsute, three-toed veripus, an unpleasant creature of unusual strength, thought to have been originally native to Pergamum. Before one forms any possible contempt for either of these species, however, it is well to keep in mind that both life forms had independently, long ago, achieved interstellar capability, a feat which the species of Rodriguez and Brenner, presumably because of various historical reasons, had never managed. In the hallway, leading to their room, Rodriguez and Brenner passed a female of their species, who was standing near a cart. On a projection at one end of the cart, and within two containing rails, one lower and one higher, were some cleaning implements, brooms of various sorts, dustpans, one long-handled and one short-handled, and, standing in a pail of liquid, a mop. The top two shelves of the cart were laden with various objects, implements and supplies. Amongst these were brushes of various sorts, and cans and bottles, filled with various substances serviceable for cleaning and polishing. There were also such things as toiletries, bars of soap, and such. There were also, folded neatly, assortments of clean linen, sheets and such. Two blankets were also in evidence. The lower portion of the cart back from the projection, contained a hamper, in which crumpled sheets could be seen, and another container in which might be seen such things as discarded paper and the remnants of packagings of various sorts. At one side of the hall, not on the cart, was a vacuum cleaner. The woman lowered her head as they passed. She was wearing that form of garment which Rodriguez had reminded him was called a “dress.” It was rather stiff, and was presumably starched. It was of two colors, basically tan, but trimmed with white at the collar and at the borders of the short sleeves. Brenner had seldom seen a woman’s arms, as home-world proprieties had required that those small, lovely, rounded limbs should be concealed. Naturally that her arms were bared disturbed him. The dress, too, far worse, came slightly above her knees. This, too, disturbed Brenner, and even more than the baring of her arms, for the home-world proprieties were even sterner with respect to the baring of a woman’s legs, perhaps because this was thought to lead even more swiftly to lewd thoughts of mysterious, sacrosanct secrecies. Such things, the baring of arms