He heard nervousness in her voice when he told her he was the writer of the letter and begged her not to hang up. She told him she wouldn't.

Nervously, she told him of her terrible humiliation at his having caught her with her guilty secret. Then he reminded her that he had confessed his guilty secret to her in the letter, so that they were even.

Both were trying, and gradually much of the nervousness passed so that they were able to talk a little more easily. Then they agreed that he would go to visit her at ten-thirty.

"You're sure you're not afraid to have me in your house alone?" he asked considerately. "We could meet in some public place, a park for instance."

"No, I'm not afraid. Something in your voice and in the tone of your letter tells me I won't be in any danger with you."

There was a florist shop next to the restaurant, and Adam bought a dozen beautiful red roses which he earned as he got out of his car in front of her house and turned up the walk. Mary had seen him coming and opened the door before he could ring the bell. She was pleased to see a handsome, well-dressed, clean-cut man, with just a few traces of gray hair around his temples, but she couldn't keep from blushing, and she apologized for it, stammering a little.

"I'm nervous, too," he told her, "and you blush far more beautifully than these roses," he added as he gave her the bouquet. Her hands trembled as she took it and thanked him, then led him into the living room where a coffee service had been set up.

Conversation was difficult in the beginning, and Adam saw that it was up to him to get things started. He repeated much of what he had told her in the letter; that helped loosen her up so that she was able to talk about the emptiness of her own life, her bad marriage, starvation for sex and finally, how by accident she had learned that, in a forbidden manner, her dog could serve her needs much better than her husband had.