is making mereally anxious.Ofcourse, Jesse said. Anything you want, Eli.TellHenry about Elizabeths letter.Oh,right, Jesse said happily. Elizabeth sent me a very dirtyletter, and she included a lock of hair. He paused a moment foreffect and added, Notfrom her head!Henrywas impressed and his face surely showed this. While hewouldnt want a lock of a girls pubic hair, he believed thatmost other boys would be thrilled, and that Jesse was lucky.Ithas a very distinctive scent, Jesse said confidentially. Essenceof Elizabeth. Amazing. Its purely carnal.Areyou going to send her some back?Ofcourse! She requested it, naturally, but I would have sent itanyway. Jesse leaned close. Have you ever had occasion to smella woman? Intimately,I mean.Notdirectly. My friend Louis got involved with a fast girl while we wereat the amusement park and he had the smell of her all over his hand.He made everyone have a sniff.Whatdid you think? Eli asked.Henryfelt he was being truthful when he said, Not bad, with a shrug.It hadnt been great,but it hadnt been terrible, either.Idont have a girl yet, Eli remarked. What about you, Henry?Me,neither. Im not really looking, though.Youneed to be careful about opportunists, Jesse noted. Schemers.Girls who are after your money.This,Henry realized, was probably the excuse he should use with hisfriends. All he needed to do was tell Louis that his father hadwarned him off girls for this very reason. Louis might think himdisappointingly meek and obedient, but he wouldnt think he wasqueer.Ofcourse, youre very handsome, Jesse continued. Girls willlike you for your looks even if they dont know about your fathersmoney.Thewaiter came and cleared away their dessert plates and brought themfresh coffee.Becauseit wasnt clear to him, Henry asked, Jesse, have you actuallymetElizabeth? Or has it all been letters?Wewent to Chicago to visit Mothers people at the beginning of lastsummer and I met her then. It was love at first sight. He turnedto Russ. Wasnt it, Russ? I fell for her immediately.Itstrue, Sir. You were crazy about her from the get-go.Ithink shes absolutely beautiful, and obviously I noticed thatright away, but I could sense something so perfectly wicked abouther, something delicious,and when we had a chance to talk, I discovered wed read so many ofthe same books, and liked the same poets and painters. All the thingsthat are important to me are important to her, too. Shesrefreshingly sexual, when so many girls pretend they have nothing atall beneath their skirts. At my great aunts house, when shefinally sneaked into my bedHere,Henry gasped. It was astonishing enough the things that working-classgirls would do, but for a young ladyto get into bed with a young gentlemanwas unimaginable.Jesselaughed, pleased to have elicited such a response. It wasntentirelyscandalous. We kissed and talked and just touched each other throughour clothes. She had strict rules! Shes not a completehoyden. I told her right then that I wanted to marry her and allshed say was, Well see. It wasnt until Id returnedhome and started writing to her regularly that she began to take meseriously.Yourparents must have no idea, Henry said wonderingly, quiteimpressed. They just think youre pen pals.Theresno point in telling my parents Im going to