he could do to refrain from leaping up, seizing her, crushing her to him, bruising her lips, and flinging her to the bed beneath him, to ravish her.
“A woman prefers to relate to a male who is more intelligent than she,” she said. “This does not mean we think that we are stupid, or anything. It is rather merely that we prefer, no matter how intelligent we are, for the male to be even more intelligent. That is a difficulty faced by some highly intelligent women, to find a male to whom it is appropriate, and natural, for them to subject themselves.”
“I see,” said Brenner.
“To be sure,” she said, “the crucial matter is not really intelligence, particularly in a narrow sense, but the wholeness of the relationship, and her needs. In the human species, males, if not crippled, are dominant. There are in our species, as in all others, dominance/submission ratios, and, in ours, as in several others, a significant sexual and psychological dimorphism between the sexes. In our species, as in many others, the female cannot be fulfilled without, in one way or another, in effect, being in the power of the male. To be sure, there can be various pathological substitutes for the male, such as a myth, another woman, a movement, a religion, the state, and so on, but these are always ultimately inadequate. Accordingly the crux is the domination which she requires. And thus, for example, even slaves who doubtless upon some occasions are far more intelligent than their masters, squirm beggingly, pleadingly, helplessly, rapturously, in their arms, owned in a sense far deeper than those to which experts in property law are accustomed. To be sure, the ideal is that she shall be, or know, or sense herself to be, less intelligent, at least in a full, generalized sense of intelligence, than he within whose sphere of domination she finds herself.”
“I see,” said Brenner.
“And I,” she said, “not only in the narrower senses of intelligence, but also, more importantly, in this larger sense of intelligence, accept you as my master.”
Brenner did not respond to this. Although he certainly did not regard her as stupid, but, rather, indeed, as of extremely high intelligence, he did not, in virtue of their interactions, and his sensing of them, feel inferior to her. He was intellectually, if not ideologically, comfortable with her. He regarded himself, indeed, in some subtle sense, as her master. Certainly it was clear that she belonged at the feet of someone, and perhaps someone such as himself.
“But it is not my intention to disturb you,” she said. “Rather let me reiterate my gratitude that you will remain the night, and for the liqueur, which is much more appreciated than I suspect you can understand.” She smiled at him. “I can still taste it,” she said.
Brenner wondered if he kissed her, if he, too, might taste the liqueur, its syrupy, ruby sweetness lingering on the softness of her lips.
“Is there anything that I might now do for you,” she asked, “any way in which I might serve you?”
“You are prepared to serve me?” asked Brenner.
“Of course,” she said. “I am a female.”
Brenner regarded her, standing there, by the door.
“May I serve you?” she asked.
“No!” said Brenner. “No!”
“Then, if I may,” she said, “and you have no further need of me, I think I shall retire for the night.”
“It is early,” said Brenner.
“But if you have no further need of me?”
“Of course,” said Brenner. “You may retire.”
“Thank you,” she said, approaching him.
“What are you doing?” he cried. He stepped back, quickly, frightened.
She had come to kneel before him, and had put her head down , to his feet. She looked up at him. “It is customary,” she said, “that we exhibit deference to the clients of our contract holder, before retiring.”
“What was it your intention to do?” he asked.
“To press my lips to your feet, to kiss them, thus, in one of many ways, exhibiting deference,” she said.
“Do not do so!” he said.
“Yes, sir,” she said. She stood up, near the bed.
“What are you doing!” he cried.
She looked at him, puzzled. “I am preparing to retire,” she said. “I am removing my silk, that it not be soiled.”
Brenner sat down in the chair. He looked away. He heard a rustle of silk.
“May I have the use of a sheet?” she asked.
“Certainly,” he said.
He heard a sheet drawn from the bed. In a moment then, he understood that she was lying beside his chair, to the right, between