Dr. Alex Leduc smiled benignly at the ravishing blonde beauty seated across the desk from him, his expression a professionally warm, sympathetic one as he leaned hack in his chair, his hands joined at finger-tips, his relaxed presence putting Janet at ease immediately.

Remarkable, he thought, smiling inwardly at this stroke of good fortune. Oddly enough, hadn't he been thinking of her just before she had entered his quarters? Surely, the gods must be smiling upon him this day, he mused, as he listened to her hesitant, shamed, and more often, weeping little tale of repugnance. Alas, he had been near ready to give up the idea of such a quick shipboard conquest of this lush, young American beauty… and now Madame Fate had dealt him an exciting hand. Ravishing, absolutely ravishing! Mon Dieu, he must play these cards carefully, cautiously, for the good Madame Fate seldom extended a second opportunity.

Janet told him all, holding back nothing, surprising herself at her uninhibited divulgence of even the more lurid details to this tall, slender, debonair appearing man with the black lip-line mustache and the handsome graying temples she had known only a matter of hours. Of course, he was a physician and that was her singular cause for coming to him. There was no reason why she should be suddenly astonished with her actions. She had needed medical assistance, both physical and mental at this bitter, crucial point, and where else would one go aboard ship but to the qualified practitioner?

"I-I… perhaps I shouldn't have come," she said, dropping her lovely head and shifting awkwardly in her chair, finally tugging a small, silk hanky into view to touch at her nose and eyes. "I-I just didn't know what else to do, Doctor…"

"But of course, Madame Arden," Leduc spoke smoothly, reassuringly. "You have done the very proper thing in consulting me." He stood slowly. "It might help put you at ease to know that in my country I combine marriage counseling along with my regular practice."