Avoiding possible embarrassment, she kept her eyelids tightly shut and heard the intake and expulsion of breath, shaky, erratic, rife with passion, no longer just a hint. So it was a pass, all right, a sexy pass, a lesbian pass! Shy but unmistakable. And unmistakably effective too, she had to admit – that shuddery place was still tingling even after Joan gathered up the things and vanished into the bathroom.

At that point Elspeth recounted her blessings and went the luxurious apartment one better in the recount. Not that washing out stockings and panties was such a big deal, but it sure smacked of luxury to have the job done for her. Built-in maid service, no less. And about the lesbian stuff, well, no hurry, time enough to jump off that bridge when she came to it. Meanwhile, just for fun – and a little extra luxury – why not take advantage of this unexpected development?

She wriggled ecstatically, adding the new blessing to her lovely hoard of old ones. At the moment, she didn't have a care in the world. Even the usual money problem wasn't bugging her; a distant relative had just died and left her a small legacy. No great fortune, true, but for a while at least she could afford to postpone job-hunting and still manage to pay for her share of the apartment. A comfortable feeling, certainly – it was nice to play the lady of leisure and not have to scrounge for bread. And now, with this weird "maid service" twist coming like a revelation, oh shit, wasn't it all simply fabulous? Especially since she could relax and take plenty of time to make up her mind about the lesbian angle.

As it turned out, Elspeth's original judgment wasn't far wrong. There seemed to be no hurry, no hurry at all, timid little Joan Talbot was giving her time to jump off a dozen bridges. Twice more that week they went through the same procedure; it happened whenever Joan rinsed out her own things. Elspeth didn't have to be tired now, just lazy. And smart enough to stretch out on her bed at the proper moment, of course, lying there expectantly as though she too was eager to see the little game become a steady ritual.