It is relatively little known that the philosophies of socialism and communism did not start with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who both eschewed any spiritual meaning of human life, but that the communal idea of "share and share alike" originated among the early Christians.
After the second century this religious communism ceased to be practiced by secular people and became limited to monastic communities where it is still practiced today. We must necessarily distinguish between the idea of communal "sharing," based upon love for our fellow-men, and the doctrine of sharing based on purely economic reasoning. The former belongs to the realm of organized religion, the latter to economic ethics and, on a lower level, to utilitarianism.
One of the pre-Marxian doctrinaires of utilitarian socialism was the French social philosopher, Francois Charles Fourier (1772-1837), whose teachings propagated the improvement of social and economic conditions as the result of enlightened reasoning in accordance with the philosophers of the French revolution.
In his work, entitled "Theory of Four Movements and the Common Destiny of Mankind," Fourier advocates a cooperative organization of society into so-called phalansteries, each large enough to provide for industrial and social needs of the group. The term is derived from the Greek word, phalanx, a group of individuals united for a common purpose, and the French word for monastery, monastere.
Since the publication of Fourier's book in 1808, groups of intellectuals, notably in France and Germany, have tried to live communal lives in phalansteric collectives on an experimental basis. In the United States it was a group of writers and scholars who founded a phalanstery on Brook Farm, near Roxbury, Massachusetts and tried to test Fournier's theory in a model socialistic community. The experiment lasted from 1841 until 1847 and was discontinued because a purely rational-ethical basis without any deep religious conviction proved insufficient to control effectively the innate egocentricity and selfishness of human nature.
Toward the end of last century the Russian writer, Count Leo Tolstoy, preached his own version of Christian communism and inspired various groups in European countries to unite under the name of Christocrats who combined communal sharing with mysticism and vegetarianism. Some of these groups could boast of initial success, but they soon deteriorated when they were joined by political elements of the Marxian persuasion.
The most durable religious social communities that had little in common with the Social economics of Fourier have been the Mennonites in the United States. In their case the religious motivation is strong enough to impose on all members of the community a rigorous self-discipline and an austere, simple way of life. How long the Mennonite phalansteries will be able to withstand the increasing pressures of modern society is yet to be seen.
The phalansteric Love Collective described in this book actually existed in the early eighties of the last century and almost led to a public scandal in the better known circles of Parisian middle-class society.
The anonymous author based his report on the minutes of several formal meetings of the "Collective" and on an extensive correspondence among several of its members. Albert Sevier, in his "Unedited Letters of Madame de Breton," (Duclos & Co., Paris 1905) elaborates on the sexual fantasies of a group of 26 Parisians, who tried to act them out within the boundaries of a specially founded phalanstery.
As shown in this book, the participants were chiefly interested in sharing their sexual partners rather than their worldly goods, although the statutes of their Collective provided for a thorough socialistic approach to matters of property and finances. Sevier remarks that the new information about the promiscuity and sexual communal living among the Polynesian race incited some European groups to imitate the free choice and exchange of love partners as well as the performance of sexual acts in public according to Bougainvillea's description of his experience in Tahiti and other Pacific islands.
The unexpected climax at the end of the book has also been taken from Sevier's publication. It seems that the writer, Madame de Breton, is identical with the heretical Adrienne of the story, who practically overthrows the Love Collective by reverting to her inherit female instincts of possessiveness. Having found the ideal, satisfactory male partner, she exposes the artificiality of trying to imitate Polynesian mores in a fundamentally occidental society reared on Christian tradition. Her impulsive, though decisive reaction also seems to raise the question of what constitutes adultery in a legal and a moral sense, respectively. In Western Europe the answer was found in silent toleration for the sake of preserving the family as a unit, while in our country an ever increasing divorce rate has greatly damaged family life. The ultimate answer, it seems, will never be found in moralistic absolutism, but rather in a gradually changing concept of marriage as a social contract.
-John E. Wright, Ph.D. Los Angeles, September 1968
CHAPTER ONE
BERTHA GERANDO
Her elegant residence on the Rue Galilee consisted of two enormous salons that looked even larger on account of the huge mirrors on each wall. A long hallway connected one of the salons with Bertha's study that was lined with more books than one might have expected to find in a woman's apartment. An almost hidden door next to some large bookshelves led to a delightful little boudoir in the style of Louis XV and, adjoining it, the "inner sanctum," the bedroom.
Bertha Gerando, nee Leydier, an attractive blonde that looked somewhat younger than her 27 years, impressed male admirers with her well-formed, slender figure, her fine complex ion and particularly with her beautiful blue eyes.
Clad in a light blue peignoir she had draped herself on a chaise longue when her personal maid announced a male visitor. Bertha read the name on the visiting card that the maid had handed her on a small tray.
"Oh, it's M. Breton ... please, tell him to enter ... she said in a joyful tone.
Pierre Breton was a well-built, dark-haired man who looked a little older than his 33 years. He had a generous nature and used to hide his strong erotic needs behind an old-fashioned sentimentality. His bachelorhood brought him several disappointing experiences with women and when he married a young girl of good family, he hesitated to approach her as any husband has the right to approach his wife.
The young woman tried to forestall the fulfillment of her matrimonial duties in the bedroom by posing as a virtuous virgin who detested the animalistic desires of the male. Pierre Breton had soon become suspicious of the sexual disposition of his wife when he noticed her warm friendship with Madelaine Pellen who was always surrounded with a group of attractive young women who overwhelmed one another with tender kisses and other demonstrations of an affectionate friendship; perhaps too affectionate. Pierre was a gentleman and kept the fact of his wife's marital frigidity to himself. His discretion was rewarded when he, at last, succeeded in penetrating the secret of that group of female friends of which his wife was a part.
Mme Gerando stretched out her hand to be kissed and asked her guest to sit down in the chair opposite her chaise longue.
When the maid had left the room, Bertha asked in a hushed voice:
"Well? What's the news?"
"Everything has been settled!"
"You have now all our signatures?"
"Yes! Here is the last one from Marie Rastegue! I received it from her personally in her place at Fontenay-aux-Roses."
"In other words, we have signed our souls away to the devil and are going to suffer eternal damnation...?"
"If you call the sweetest sensual pleasures damnation, you are right. We shall have a great opportunity to lead a healthy life of the senses, something that our hypocritical society has always made impossible for us...."
"You really believe that our Love Collective will offer us the most satisfactory fulfillment?"
"Come, come ... don't pretend! You are quite convinced of it just as I am! After our first common meeting you will sigh with pleasure...."
"Perhaps! But the first moments of this new life will be somewhat difficult for us. We shall have to get used to it...."
"Difficult? You don't sound very convincing! Here, look at this list...."
"What is it?"
"One of the so-called weekly schedules...."Would you mind explaining it to me?"
Oh, it's really quite simple. You are one of the co-signers of our contract and are familiar with its content, aren't you?"
"Yes ... I think, I am...."
"Do you remember paragraph six? It should be of great interest to you since you are starting tomorrow...."
Bertha blushed slightly and stammered: "You know ... this is really a little embarrassing ... There are five men to be present...."
"Yes, but they are all your brothers...."
"My brothers ... as you call them! All right! I don't mind, really, but it will take some time to get used to all this. Oh, don't be afraid, I am not going to shrink my duty; that's not my way of doing things. I am quite determined to go through with it, although I hardly know those five 'brothers' as we are supposed to call them. Anyway, I hope they are going to be quite well known to me when I start in on my second week of 'afternoon-service.' "
"You mean your 'at-home service' which falls on afternoons?"
"Yes, that's what I mean."
"Believe me ... you will be delighted! And don't forget that those others might be just as embarrassed as you, but ... you will be amazed at the speed with which you will overcome those first moments of shyness."
"I am sure of it. I won't play the prude! But now, please, explain that list to me."
"Well, you see that each of the vertical columns is headed by the name of each one of us. On the left side of the horizontal columns are the days of the week. Now, each time one of our gentlemen pays you a visit you mark the respective day in his column...."
"And for what purpose?"
"It is a sort of statistic ... a kind of bookkeeping on our communal love life."
"Hm, it's an original idea! And I am beginning tomorrow?"
"Yes! And I am sure you will be much in demand...."
"But ... but ... if it should become known?"
"What does it matter? It all remains in the family, so to speak. Don't forget, we are one big family now and all those who visit you are your relatives. Only we know what is going on, and as far as outsiders are concerned ... what could they possibly find wrong with your relatives paying you visits?"
"I understand ... but ... people are not always as stupid as we think, and they might become suspicious about my sudden popularity...."
"Don't worry! I know that our gentlemen are as discreet and tactful as diplomats. Apart from these visits, don't forget our common meetings. They are the really important thing in our new life."
"Oh, those meetings! I bet that each one of us is going to become red in the face...."
"Kisses will make the blushing disappear very soon."
CHAPTER TWO
JULIETTE SIZAC
A huge apartment on the Avenue des Champs Elysees, full of precious and elegant furniture, paintings and costly oriental rugs.
Juliette Sizac, nee Raymond, was a good looking blonde of twenty-one. She hid her very passionate nature behind a facade of provocative roguishness, but not with much success; her sensual mouth and her challenging eyes gave her away. She made a good choice in marrying Eliacin who was able to initiate her in the whole gamut of sensual pleasures and to satisfy her in every respect.
Before meeting Juliette, Eliacin Sizac had an affair with Mme. Duport and his sexual prowess permitted him to continue the relation ship after he became Juliette's husband. Etienne Duport suspected his wife's continued affair with Sizac and retaliated by availing himself of Juliette's obliging nature.
As soon as Eliacin discovered this he persuaded Duport's sister-in-law, Lucie Vautrin, to leave town with him for three days and spend the time in a pleasant hotel in the country for the sake of amorous amusement.
This escapade would have led to quite a scandal unless Mme. Duport's ingenuity had not prevented it. She arranged things all around by presenting her husband with the young Paola Raymond as a mistress, but not before getting Juliette's consent. But this remedy did not work out as one had hoped, because Etienne's young brother-in-law, Charles Vautrin tried to share Paola's favors with him.
Again it was Mme. Duport who knew how to mollify her husband's hurt feelings by sending her own sister, Lucie, into his bedroom. A fresh girl of seventeen was exactly what pleased M. Duport most.
Juliette Sizac was not satisfied with one extramarital lover; she needed more. Apart from Etienne Duport, she took up with Ludo-vic Rastegue, Lionel Sifferland, and Theodore Castex. They all tried to keep everything quite secret, but it could not be avoided that everyone suspected everybody else. And now all kinds of "retaliations" were carried out.
Charles Vautrin, stimulated by the possession of Paola Raymond, wanted to get a good taste of Juliette, too. He did not have to go down on his knees to get her to agree to anything. Juliette's sexual knowledge would have made her suitable for the most spoiled clientele in a first class bordello. This was the female member of the new collective whose task for the first week was to acquire new members from the outside.
She and her husband went to inspect the apartment on the Rue des Grandes-Ecluses. The entrance to the building was locked at all hours of the day and the night. An old woman opened and let them enter. She introduced herself as the "concierge" and quickly assured Juliette and her husband that she was the most discreet creature on earth.
"I never see or hear, anything! I don't care whether the lady will always come here with this gentlemen, or with others. I don't know of anything and I never say anything. Nobody will ever get anything out of me!"
She was given a generous tip and let Juliette and Eliacin inspect the large apartment which covered the whole second floor. It consisted of several large rooms that were separated by small and rather dark cabinets. The huge dining room had been changed into a luxurious bathroom, or rather, a bath-hall.
Eliacin and Juliette made sure that everything had been arranged as they wanted it. Juliette was experienced enough to play-act in all sorts of ways, anticipating the numerous love bouts that were going to take place here, so that her husband fell for her ruse and actually became sexually aroused. First he pretended to be amused at Juliette's carrying on, but soon he undressed her and carried her to the large bed in the first room. Thus they initiated the place as if it were one of those antique temples of Venus.
When they were both satisfied, he asked his wife why all the small cabinets connecting the rooms were without any windows.
"Don't you remember, stupid," Juliette said, "they all have peepholes in the walls ... Eliacin burst out laughing.
"I bet the others don't know anything about that....
"O yes, some of them do."
"There will be a lot of embarrassment if the rest discover the existence of the peepholes...."
"Don't worry, after the first week they will fight for a place near them. They will love to watch other couples in action...."
Eliacin drew his sensual wife toward him and embraced her even more passionately than before, not forgetting all the details that an experienced lover should know.
CHAPTER THREE
THE ACQUISITION OF NEW MEMBERS
On May 9, at six in the afternoon, Juliette took her first promenade in the Parisian streets with the purpose of attracting erotic customers.
In a yellow silk dress with matching hat, she was the picture of elegance and nobody could have suspected that the beautiful woman was about to become competition for streetwalkers. She had sent her carriage and coachman home after he had taken her as far as the intersection of the Rue St. Honore and the Madelaine. Now she walked languidly down on the Madelaine, quite conscious of the many admiring glances of the passing men.
Eliacin, meanwhile, had taken his sister-in-law to dinner and then proceeded with her to the apartment on the Rue des Grandes-Ecluses where Juliette was to make an appearance as soon as she had found a customer.
But although many men followed Juliette with their eyes, they did not dare to address her like a prostitute; she looked too much the great lady. After an hour of wandering through the crowded streets, she decided to have dinner at some restaurant. She chose the nearest, at the next corner, and ordered a very simple meal. A man at the adjacent table tried to start a conversation with her, but she gave him only monosyllabic answers. He did not look like anything that she had set out to find.
When she left the restaurant at half past seven, she noticed that an elegantly dressed man was following her. He was tall and of good build and did not seem older than about fifty. He caught up with her in front of the Opera and addressed her just as she was turning into the Rue Scribe.
"Excuse me, Madame," he said in a cultivated voice, "you walk in such a relaxed manner, as if you were merely enjoying a walk...."
Juliette's silence was supposed to indicate that she was a lady and demanded more courtesy.
The man took the unspoken cue and lifted his hat with a ceremonious gesture.
"Excuse my intrusion, Madame, but I would like to offer myself as a companion so that we can enjoy our beautiful Boulevards together...."
"Thank you, but I don't need any companionship."
"Oh, but you are mistaken, Madame! A lady of your beauty and youth does need somebody to protect her. You are running a risk by walking alone so late in the evening."
"There's nothing I have to fear...."
"Oh, I am sure you could never be mistaken for anything else but a lady, but one never can tell what some rowdy might try to do. Please, accept my arm to guide you. As you can see, I am a mature man who will enjoy conversing with you as if he were an acquaintance of long standing...."
Juliette pretended to reflect for a moment. "All right, Monsieur, there is no harm in enjoying a good conversation, I suppose...."
"Of course! Especially as there is nothing else one can do on the street...." Juliette's laughter gave him courage.
"Ah, you are laughing, Madame! Laughter is always a bridge on which people can meet...." After walking together for some time, the man began to realize that his elegant female companion was no" prude and when Juliette discovered that he was an easy mark, she decided that it was about time to steer him toward the house in the Rue des Grandes-Ecluses, but not before she had succeeded in making him give her a "present" of one hundred francs.
"My husband and I live in a small provincial town where life is extremely dull and monoto nous. Every year I spend eight days in Paris in order to raise a little money for dresses and things a lady needs. My husband believes I am visiting my parents who live here, and when I come back with some newly bought things I tell him these are gifts of my parents...." The gentleman was highly pleased to hear this story. His beautiful companion looked and talked like a lady, to be sure, but she was quite approachable, after all. When they entered the large apartment, she explained: "One of my rich woman friends lets me use the place for my little adventures...."
The man looked around.
"That's very nice! But ... what's behind that wall-papered little door in the corner?"
"Oh, that leads to a small cabinet. But it is empty ... You are not afraid of anything, are you?"
Juliette was taking her hat off and revealed her beautiful hair. A very light tap behind the wall let her know that her husband was at his observation post.
"Afraid?" said the man. "Not at all! With you I'd go anywhere...."
He reclined on the sofa and tried to put his arms around Juliette who gave him a light slap on his wrist.
"You are not shy, my friend. What is your name, by the way?"
"Marcel!"
"Is that your real name?"
"Yes, my first name."
"But you also must have a last name...."
"Are you really discreet? Can I be sure you won't talk to anybody about me?"
"Why? Because you are married?"
"How do you know?"
"I am intuitive! You can trust me...."
"Well, yes, I have a wife...."
"And how old is she?"
"Forty!"
"Forty ... already?"
"Yes, but we didn't come here to discuss my wife, did we?"
"No, we didn't, but I asked you to be a gentleman and tell me your last name."
"Delrieu."
"And what is your occupation?"
"I am doing nothing at all."
"Ha! That is the best occupation in the world!"
"My dear girl, don't you think we should start being nice to each other?"
"What exactly do you mean?"
"Well, that we should kiss and caress each other...."
"All right! Start kissing and caressing me, my friend!"
"I believe it is you who should begin...."
"Ha! You seem to be spoiled rotten...." Marcel Delrieu laughed and pulled Juliette on his knees.
"You are delightful, little darling. Quick, kiss me!"
"No!"
"Oh yes!"
"You are ordering me around!"
"On the contrary! I am begging for a kiss...."
"That's better! Hold still now . .
She pressed her lips on his right eye and heard him sigh.
"Your lips are warm and soft."
"At least you don't complain ... wait a minute! What are your hands looking for under my skirt?"
"The very thing that one is looking for when one has a beautiful girl on his knees . .
He lifted her skirt and began to caress her skin.
"Ah, you don't wear any panties?"
"I try not to. It helps whenever I meet somebody who is in a hurry like you...."
Marcel noticed the sarcastic undertone in her voice and laughed.
"Well said, but you could be mistaken about me, my girl. Perhaps I am not in such a hurry as you may think. When it comes to making love, I am very thorough, like a real artist who takes his art quite seriously. Are you sure you can fulfill all my wishes?"
"That depends on what you mean by all your wishes!"
"A thousand little by-plays that are inspired by a beautiful female body and which arouse my passion into a full flame...."
"But...."
"No buts, please! I already gave you one hundred francs. Here are another one hundred and now try to follow my cues...."
"All right, then. You may order whatever comes to mind!"
He pressed his hot lips on her neck and pushed her toward a large armchair.
"Come, sit on that chair!"
"But why?"
"You'll see! Rest your legs on either arm of the chair."
"If it's nothing more difficult, all right! Here I am the way you want me."
"Fine! And now don't move!"
Marcel knelt in front of her and bared her legs, thighs and the secret part between the thighs. The view of Juliette's undoubted charms, the silky skin on the firm thighs, the curly hair on her abdomen, made Marcel lose his poise. He let his greedy fingers wander all over these delights. Juliette Was a well-trained partner and lifted her thighs even higher so that Marcel's lips could press against the paradise for which he had paid two hundred francs. She found him to be quite satisfactory and let him know of it by emitting a few deep sighs. Marcel stayed down between her thighs for quite some time and let himself go.
At last he got up, his face deeply flushed and perspiring. He dried it with his handkerchief, staring at his beautiful partner. When he touched her shoulder, she got up mechanically and followed his silent invitation to lie down on the sofa. He made her turn her face toward the wall and then lifted her skirt and chemise so that her well-rounded buttocks and hips became visible.
He sat down on the floor and feasted his eyes on the perfect beauty of that inviting pair of buttocks, the contours of the thighs and the slim legs that were covered by black silk stockings. He grasped the naked hemispheres with his hands and bent forward to cover them with kisses, but at the last minute he desisted and exclaimed:
"No! Not yet! My eyes have not enjoyed everything to the full!"
Juliette's voice sounded plaintive.
"What are you doing there? I don't feel anything! I can't see anything! What on earth is going on?"
"Be patient, my love!"
Marcel was now kneeling in front of her proud buttocks and opened his fly. His cupid was standing up, straight and hard, ready for action. When Juliette felt that probing member on her buttocks, she jumped up and avoided Marcel's embrace.
"What is the meaning of this here?" She stood in front of him, her arms akimbo and seemed angry. "Speak up, man! What do you think you are doing!"
"But, my love, why are you so angry?"
"Well, that is quite obvious...."
"Are you afraid of something?"
"I just don't like this sort of thing...."
"But you agreed that you will satisfy all my demands and wishes...."
"There are wishes and wishes...."
"What is wrong with that? Just a little friction that might be quite pleasurable...."
"I would prefer not to waste our time with nonsense. This bed here would be far more suitable for our purpose than all the rest of the furniture in the room!"
"You treat me badly...!"
"Marcel, try to be sensible! I went along with you for a while, but I am not used to the kind of thing you seem to want. You look surprised? I told you the truth when I said I was married. My social position prevents me from getting into situations like tonight. Perhaps it is wrong for me to use passing acquaintances such as ours to earn some money to replenish my wardrobe. But I am a woman and can't resist a beautiful dress when I see it in a window on one of the Boulevards. And such dresses are far too expensive for my husband's means. Now, try to be nice to me and come to bed with me!"
She stood before him in one of her clever poses that displayed her whole body to full advantage.
Marcel knelt in front of her.
"Please, please, let's wait a little while...."
"No! I choose the bed and nothing else!"
"All right," Marcel said at last. "But get out of all your clothes."
"Yes, I'll do that!"
Marcel was about to undress himself when he heard some noise coming from the direction of the cabinet.
"What was that?"
"What?"
"There, in that cabinet or whatever it is!"
"I didn't hear anything!"
"I am sure I heard something!"
"But there isn't anything or anybody in there!"
"You must be mistaken, my dear . .
"Then go and see for yourself!"
Marcel took a candle from the mantelpiece and went to search the cabinet without success.
"Well?" asked Juliette when he returned with a puzzled look on his face.
"You were right ... There is nothing...."
"See I told you so...."
Soon they were both lying on the bed, pressing their nude bodies against each other. Juliette wanted to hurry the act because she suspected that those who were watching through the peephole desired her body, too, and wanted to join her and Marcel. It was good that Eliacin and whoever had come with him had quickly left the cabinet before Marcel searched it. Juliette turned her full attention now to her partner.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE INCIDENT WITH PAOLA
Eliacin, Prosper Rastegue, and Paola had arrived at the Rue des Grandes-Ecluses a short time before Juliette and her acquisition.
First, they checked on everything in the apartment to see whether the peepholes offered a satisfactory view and whether anything that happened could be noticed. They lit about enough lamps to illuminate the goings-on in the large room and then retreated to their posts of observation and waited calmly for the arrival of Juliette and a possible partner.
Paola was very restless and ran from one room to the other, asking numerous questions that must have sounded quite naive to anybody who did not know her.
Her figure was slender and well proportioned and her movements, though graceful, betrayed her sensual temperament. She was an expert at lovemaking and knew as much about the fine art of giving pleasure to the male as her sister. Charles Vautrin was not her only lover; his brother-in-law Eliacin Duport, then Paul Gerandno and Jacques Nassau had also known her charms quite intimately.
Being an orphan, she resided with her sister who permitted her complete freedom and even asked her own husband to undertake the love training of Paola so that the young girl would be able to meet any situation with knowledge and poise.
Paola did not have to think of the future, having a small fortune of her own which permitted her to wait until she would find a young man whom she intended to marry and who was understanding and sensual enough to share her thirst for pleasure.
When Juliette and Marcel appeared in the apartment, the three observers ran quickly to the peepholes and kept their eyes glued to them. Eliacin, though, wanted to watch everything without having to talk to the others, and went to another dark cabinet where he was undisturbed. He followed everything that was going on between his wife and Marcel, and seemed satisfied with Juliette's first experiment at being a demimondaine.
When Marcel admired Juliette's behind, Eliacin noticed that somebody had joined him in the cabinet. It was Paola whose quick breathing excited him so much that he pulled her into his arms and kissed her furiously. At the same moment that Juliette rebelled against feeling the touch of Marcel's cupid on her buttocks, the two observers while trying to withdraw, upset a small stool. That was the noise that Marcel had heard, but when he investigated, those two had already left the cabinet and bolted the door from outside.
Prosper noticed the return of Eliacin and Paola and signaled to them when he saw that they were still kissing each other. He warned them not to make any noise, and to watch the proceedings in the large room. He himself kept making notes on a pad, alternately watching Juliette and her lover.
Juliette was now quite nude except for her stockings and shoes. Prosper made the following entry on his note pad:
"Nudity is man's natural condition par excellence! If a person is beautiful, nudity accentuates the beauty. The female body reveals not only its physical beauty when unclothed, but also a certain grace and tenderness that are qualities of the soul. The nude body of a handsome male accentuates his strength both of body and character. Whoever condemns nudity betrays only his complete ignorance of man's nature and destiny. The act of love between two nude bodies is a work of art. De-mimondaines are not to be despised for baring her bodies, but rather for the shabbiness of the tricks they often use to outwit a paying customer."
A slight noise made him turn around. He saw Eliacin making love to Paola as a dog doing it to a bitch. He quickly added another note: "The witnessing of an act of love compels its instant imitation. Jealousy exists only among uncultured and unimaginative persons."
CHAPTER FIVE
PROSPER RASTEGUE
Dr. Prosper Rastegue had a pleasant exterior, though he looked more mature than a man of thirty. He was known as one of the best educated and well-informed men in professional circles, but' at the same time he was a sort of enigma to his colleagues as well as to most of his relatives.
When he was twenty-two he wanted to marry a young girl of the working class and his family protested vehemently against such a premature alliance, especially with a poor girl of proletarian background. Some of his friends suspected that Prosper was the victim of a strong sexual attraction and insisted on marriage in order to enjoy the girl's charms legi timately. But, suddenly, he had a complete change of mind and renounced all thoughts of marriage and even love affairs, and concentrated entirely on his studies. He received his doctorate summa cum laude and decided to spend the next two years traveling through most of Europe.
When he returned, everybody marveled at the young man's cool reserve and natural dignity and doubted whether he was capable of any warmer feelings. Prosper did not volunteer much information about himself and kept strictly to himself. He rented an elegant apartment in the Rue de la Boetie and tried to acquire a clientele of patients as if he really needed to earn money. His private means would have enabled him to lead a life of leisure, but he insisted on being professionally active.
His older brother, the banker Ludovic Rastegue, had married a celebrated beauty, Mile. Palmyre Vautrin, and though Prosper admired his sister-in-law very much, he paid more attention to her sister, Mme. Leonie Duport, a woman who attracted through a peculiar personal magnetism a considerable number of men of all ages. It soon became clear to Prosper that Leonie had not remained indifferent to his attentions and that her feelings for him amounted to more than mere sentimentality.
As soon as they had become intimate with each other, Prosper discovered a strange inclination in his mistress. It was her habit to rouse her lover to the heights of passion and then to push him into the ready arms of a rival.
In the case of Prosper her choice fell on her good friend, Bertha Gerando. It was a rather delicate situation since Leonie had had intimate relations with both M. and Mme. Gerando. But it did not displease Prosper to acquire two mistresses instead of one. The two women did their best to further the sexual education of the handsome young doctor and he was one of the first instigators when the foundation of a phalansteric collective was planned.
Both Leonie and Bertha realized that they would have to think of something else beside their "love triangle" in order to prevent the doctor from sudden backslidings into "respectability," because his behavior, outside of the bed, was always full of reserve and strict propriety. If he should discover the incestuous affair between Leonie and her brother he might withdraw from their circle of friends. Leonie thought she might bring about an affair between Prosper and Marie Rastegue, but since she had a nice Lesbian affair with Marie at the time, she wanted to keep her for herself. Leonie thought long and hard and decided to get Prosper into bed with Palmyre.
One evening Prosper received the visit of two ladies without any previous warning. It was Leonie accompanied by a heavily veiled woman.
"I am quite sure of your strict discretion," said Leonie, "and that's why I venture to ask a great favor of you. A very important errand forces me to leave you alone with this lady and I am sure you will be kind enough to see her home around midnight."
Prosper gasped: "What? The lady is supposed to stay here without you?"
"You will not be disappointed, I assure you! She is young and very pretty!"
"That may be, but how can I benefit from her beauty if I can't see her features?"
"Quite simple, my friend! As soon as you two are alone, you can ask the lady to take off her veil!"
Prosper laughed, amused.
"Ah, the great mystery! Love and mystery go together. All right, my eccentric friend, I shall take good care of the veiled beauty and I hope we shall soon meet again."
He saw Leonie to the door and when he returned to the room the veiled lady was reclining in a large armchair. Prosper, to make a gallant gesture, put a cushion under her feet and Palmyre-because it was she-lifted her dress slightly so that her well-rounded legs became visible for a moment. Wonderful legs, thought Prosper. And the pink silk stockings make a good contrast with her black velvet dress.
After putting the cushion under her feet, he remained in his kneeling position and asked: "Don't you think it is about time to lift your veil?"
"Are you sure you don't know me?"
"Well, I believe I know your voice...."
"No, you can't possibly have heard my voice before...."
"O yes! Your first name is Nathalie, isn't it?"
"No!"
"Is it Caroline?"
"You're wrong again."
"Well ... then I don't think I know you."
"I told you so! But I feel pity for your helplessness, my dear Prosper. Help me to take off my hat and veil...."
"Palmyre!" Prosper exclaimed. "You're Palmyre!"
"And that frightens you?"
"No ... no, it doesn't frighten me, but what about Ludovic?"
"My husband? My dear friend, he has become the pupil of a wonderful teacher. You may ask Caroline whose name escaped you a while ago...!"
"Palmyre! Palmyre! How can you?"
"You big child! Wasn't it you who studied the philosophy of the phalansteric family, the ideal Collective? And weren't you one of those who proposed that we join in the experiment?"
"Yes, that is true!"
"Well, my husband and I approve of this experiment and want to participate...."
"Really?"
"Yes, really! But it's time to recover from your astonishment. Prove to me you don't dislike me; and not with compliments, but with action! I am going to let you make love to me in any manner that delights you. And the best place for that is the bed where you should carry me right now! You have waited too long, my friend!"
Prosper quickly shed his coat and moved to the chair. Palmyre reached out from her reclining position and took his head in her hands, drawing his face close to hers. As their lips met, at first softly, then with increasing urgency, her tongue began to push gently between his lips, until he had taken it into his mouth. Her arms snaked around his back and pulled him against her. When their long kiss ended, he rested his head against her firm warm breasts.
Then without a word, he rose and carried her into the bedroom, dark and warm, soft with the rich fabrics and carpets that furnished it. He placed Palmyre on the bed and began to remove her clothing. Her blouse fell open at his touch to reveal her superbly melded breasts, high, firm, and very white. Prosper touched the small pink tips with his lips, then gently circled each of them with his tongue. Palmyre's heavy skirt and petticoats separated his hand from the warm nest which it sought, and so he rapidly undid the stays and laces until, with a few, slow, graceful, undulating moves, she had freed herself from her clothes and lay naked on the dark bed-covering.
She looked up at him, standing tall and slim by the bed as he removed his clothing. His body was white and smooth, the skin tightly drawn over the slender muscles. An elegant grace seemed to emanate from him, even in his nakedness. She moved her small hand along his thigh, through the dark hair that covered it, until it came to rest upon his cock. She raised herself and touched the hard tip with her lips and tongue. A small moan came from him and he swiftly threw himself upon her, feeling her breasts burn into him, and the dampness of her small, exquisite cunt against his thigh.
"There! There!" She whispered urgently, taking him in her hands and guiding him to the pulsating hole that awaited his shaft. She raised herself to him, and at the same instant, he moved to her mound with his mouth, tonguing and licking the soft edges, probing first slowly, then quickly, the hot, dark depths of her being. Just as she began to moan with the incredible pleasure, he moved again, this time putting his mouth against hers, thrusting his tongue deep into it. His hands were roughly caressing her breasts and the sides of her slender body, creating an incredible heat within her.
With a cry she pulled his head to her breasts and arched her back to meet the thrust she knew was coming. With a tremendous plunge, he entered her completely and began moving in her, driving her on and on, feeling her hands clutching at his buttocks, pulling him deeper and deeper. There was no stopping or prolonging the sensation within him. His thrust became more and more savage and he wanted to hear her scream with pain, but she made only low, throbbing sounds of incredible satisfaction. Her body moved in perfect unison with his, answering every hard, male stab with a soft, female response that heightened his pleasure even more.
Then he felt a hot, burning swell rise from the tips of his toes, and with a loud cry muffled against her heaving breasts, he came, shooting his seed deep into her. At the same moment, she washed his cock with her own, copious flow and as he slowed, and finally stopped, he could still feel it running along his thighs. After a few moments, they lay still, Prosper still within her, her hands still loosely cradling his body against hers. With a gentle rocking motion she freed him, and he rolled beside her on his back. Her name passed between his lips with a long, heavy sigh as her hands moved from his now limp cock, up across the flat stomach and chest, to his lips. His eyes were closed, and he gave himself up to the sensation of her cool, soft fingertips tracing the outlines of his eyes, nose, and mouth. Following her fingers were her lips, moist, and warm, touching the same spots, and moving down across his body again, from nipple to nipple, into the warm depths of his armpit, down his side and across his stomach to his navel, then into the dark hair in which his cock rested. Her hand began to manipulate him gently, caressing his balls, moving her finger up and down his stiffening shaft. He resisted the impulse to throw her over on her back and plunge once more into her, letting this long, slow ecstasy build within him.
When he was hard, her mouth descended on his cock and engulfed it. Prosper gave a groan and heaved his hips upward, plunging deep into her throat. At the same time, she began slowly to move her body around, until her throbbing cunt was resting against his face. Both his hands found their way between her lithe and slender legs. With one finger he explored the hot crevice of her behind, and with the other he probed slowly and steadily into the depths of her sex. He parted the lips and thrust his tongue into her, as he felt the scrape of her teeth against his cock. The sensation set him afire, and he came, suddenly spurting deep into her throat. As she swallowed his seed, her body came down hard upon him and her orgasm flooded him. Then there was only silence, and the occasional whispering of their names as they lay exhausted on the bed.
It was two in the morning when he finally delivered Palmyre at her house. Since he was a close relative, the butler was not surprised at the late hour, all the less so as Palmyre had informed the servants that she might return rather late that night. Prosper returned to his apartment deliciously tired and hardly had time to undress when he fell fast asleep.
CHAPTER SIX
LEONIE DUPORT, NEE VAUTRIN
She was the most experienced among all the female members of the Collective. All of the fourteen male members had slept with her, once or several times, and even some of the women could not resist her peculiar Lesbian caresses. Both sexes found a mysterious gratification in the arms of that fatal beauty.
First she seduced her sisters, Palmyre and Lucy, whom she moulded into highly responsive partners. In a daring move, she abducted Bertha Gerando and traveled with her through Italy where the two experienced a Lesbian's paradise. But Leonie saw to it that her friend's heterosexual inclinations were not neglected. Both enjoyed the embraces of dark-eyed, olive skinned fishermen at Capri, from time to time.
When Paul Gerando discovered the state of things he was quite upset, but then he tried to accept the situation in a philosophical manner. He was mystified by a sudden communication from his wife who, instead of replying to his pleading letters properly, sent him the following note, in Leonie's handwriting and with Leonie's signature.
"Recipient of this has acquired the right to sleep with Palmyre as often as he may desire, upon presentation of this note to the abovementioned lady.
"Leonie."
Paul was baffled by the note and debated with himself whether it was merely a practical joke, or whether it was to be taken seriously. He decided to test the case. When he appeared at Mme. Rastegue's apartment, she seemed to have expected his visit.
Palmyre received him in her boudoir with a great smile.
"Of course, you want to show me Leonie's note?"
"Why ... you know about it?"
"Certainly! Let me see that paper...."
Paul handed it over, hesitating slightly. Palmyre glanced at it and asked:
"Well, my friend, when do you want to be paid in kind?"
Paul looked so surprised that Palmyre burst out laughing.
"Aha, it seems that what you are about to receive does not replace what you think you have lost? Is that it?"
"You are mistaken, my dear! I certainly know the value of what I am about to receive, but ... don't you understand that the whole deal is a little unusual?"
"All right, you want me to tear up the note then?"
"No, no! On the contrary. Keep it in a safe place!"
"You are a peculiar person!"
"You seem to be quite serious about it!"
"I am, but it is you who has to make the final decision...."
"And you are really willing to ... to...."
"I always honor my sister's signature...."
"Well, in that case I insist on going through with it as thoroughly and as often as possible...."
"Fine! I'm free tonight! Come to get me and I'll go wherever you choose to take me!"
"Forgive my behavior, but all this has come so unexpectedly that I am too happy to be coherent, at the moment...."
"Don't apologize ... Just look at it this way: We don't want you to be lonely as long as your wife is away!"
"Thank you! ... Until tonight, then!"
When he returned home, Paul wrote his wife a few lines:
"I have handed over Leonie's note and it will be fully honored. Thanks for thinking of my pleasure!"
A few days later he received Bertha's reply:
"Darling, you have been very nice! Invite Elise and spend some time in the country. She will tell you all sorts of interesting things and you will have nothing to be sorry about.
"Always, your Bertha."
Paul, encouraged by his meeting with Palmyre, went to see Elise. She lived with her parents who did not make any difficulties when he invited the girl to undertake a little trip with him. They left Paris the same evening for Lyon.
Elise actually revealed a lot of peculiar things to Paul.
"You ought to know," she said, "that Leonie does not only sleep with Bertha, but is having affairs with Nathalie Nassau and Caroline As-senac. The willpower of that extraordinary and sensual woman is so strong that one can't help obeying her. And one does it with all the more enthusiasm as she offers us always new and ever more exciting pleasures. By the way, she and Bertha are going to join us in Lyon in two days and you'll be able to judge for yourself...." When the two couples met, Leonie explained to Paul all about the philosophy of Love Collectives, a philosophy which she had been unconsciously practicing and which should be acknowledged and accepted by all their families and friends, and that a man like Paul Gerando was the best suited to organize such a Collective.
Leonie looked Paul over and decided that she liked that handsome man whose sensual nature she also felt. Although she knew nothing about his erotic tastes, she instinctively knew that he would make a most desirable partner.
"You know, Paul, that such a collective of love offers many new pleasures. All senses are going to be engaged! The variations of the love act between two, and even among a whole group of participants, are almost innumerable. All sorts of new positions can be assumed; eyes, ears, hands and our whole bodies will be sources of enjoyment. Sexual love can be far more than you have ever suspected, my friend...."
"But what about jealousy?"
"That will be neutralized through the exchange of partners. You will soon discover that as soon as your partners are attractive, the sexual act becomes something impersonal. Jealousy is merely the result of possessiveness, but as soon as you can share with many partners, all possessiveness stops...."
In that manner the two couples spent several days, discussing, planning and contributing more and more ideas for the Love Collective. The three women demonstrated for Paul all sorts of Lesbian acts which culminated in a gen eral orgy. Soon Paul lost all misgivings about Leonie's plans and all the quicker as she promised to procure for him any woman, married, or single, that he might point out to her.
Etienne Duport was Leonie's second husband who had been her preferred lover before her first husband died. He quickly assented to the new plans of his wife and thus it came about that most of them were ready to organize the Love Collective.
CHAPTER SEVEN
LUDOVIC AND MARIE RASTEGUE
Ludovic, a dark-haired virile type of a man was as potent at thirty-four as he was at nineteen. He tried to get every woman he met into bed as soon as possible and since most of them belonged to Leonie's intimate circle, they did not put up much resistance.
In his house lived his younger sister, Marie, who was a great favorite of Leonie's and had come under the fascinating influence of that great amoureuse. At nineteen, Marie was fully developed and attracted both sexes by her almost classical beauty. She used her independence to get around socially a great deal and delighted people not only by her delightful exterior but also with her spirited wit and quick sense of repartee. She was also an accomplished painter, specializing in still-lifes. She loved to tease her brothers and her sister-in-law, Palmyre, but she was more reserved than most of the women within her circle. Her only love affair that was known was the one with Leonie. Somebody remarked that she once permitted Desire Beausire to admire her nude body in the bath, but that might have been mere bragging on his part.
She didn't seem to be in any hurry about finding a marriage partner, and although she knew of the goings-on among her friends, she did not encourage any male to approach her. Perhaps her senses had not yet been fully awakened, or it was Leonie's caresses that proved to be quite sufficient for her erotic needs. Men respected her reserve and did not bother her after a few polite refusals.
One evening she was having dinner alone with her brother who kept watching her in a peculiar manner which made her blush. After the meal Ludovic accompanied her to her room where she was about to put her paints and brushes in order when, suddenly, he encircled her waist and pulled her down on his knees.
The armchair creaked under their combined weight, especially when Marie tried to wrest herself free from Ludovic's embrace, but he pressed his full lips on hers and she stopped moving. At last she was able to free herself and exclaimed:
"Really, Ludovic ... what is the idea?"
"What's wrong, Marie?"
"That ... that sort of kiss . .
"Oh ... you want a few more like that?"
"How can you ask such a question? You are my older brother, after all!"
"Don't be childish, Marie! Let me tell you something about your adored friend, Leonie! Once you know that, you won't mind continuing our pleasant talk."
"If you want to tell me about her adventure with Charles, you can save your breath. I know that story, down to the smallest detail...."
"Well ... and what about you?"
"I don't think that Leonie's actions justify you and me to imitate her...."
"Only because you are frigid! You somehow don't belong in our family...."
"I ... frigid?" I don't even know what you mean by that...."
"A person is frigid if he can't feel the urges of love...."
"My dear Ludovic, love is nothing but sexual attraction!"
"It can be more than that. And you ought to know it, because your relations with Leonie, my sister-in-law, are not purely based on your sexual bouts, as you well know...."
Marie blushed again and couldn't find an appropriate answer. Ludovic used her embarrassment to get hold of her hand and said:
"Leonie is quite an inventive person and that is why I am very fond of her, apart from other reasons. When you become acquainted with her grandiose plans for our Love Collective you will change your mind very quickly. You will have to, because our man-made family traditions are going to yield to something more natural, something that was known to mankind during its golden age, when all these philistine pruderies were unknown. You will discover a sweetness and happiness that has been unknown to you. Why shouldn't we prepare ourselves for all those new things right now?"
"Shut up, Ludovic! If there are some plans of the kind you mention, you can afford to wait until the time is ripe!"
Ludovic gently pulled Marie on his lap and found that her resistance was weakening. When his hand slipped under her dress and was stopped by some silk panties, he managed to unbutton them.
"You are taking advantage of me...." Marie complained.
"Don't be silly! There is nothing to be afraid of ... as you should know...."
"What are you doing with my panties...?"
"I am tearing them to shreds ... if you don't get out of them voluntarily...."
"You wouldn't dare...."
She jumped up and her panties fell to her ankles. With one quick motion of her foot she threw them to the side.
"Marie, come here! Let's lie down on the sofa...."
She was standing in front of her easel and pretending to study her painting.
"Wait a minute! It seems I didn't finish this picture the way I wanted to . .
"Wait until tomorrow when you can see it in plain daylight . .
"Ludovic, you let your desires rule you completely...."
"I would be a damned fool if I didn't let them rule me...."
"That's your opinion! But I don't want to get involved...."
"You have no heart at all! You want your own brother to be killed by his natural urges...."
"It is quite otherwise! The lover in you wants to kill your brotherly feelings...."
"The lover in me?"
"Yes, because once you become my lover, I am losing you as a brother. Both can't exist at the same time...."
Ludovic carried her to the sofa and hugged her tightly, pressing his body against hers so that she felt his aroused maleness, something that was quite new to her and which apparently wanted to penetrate her body. She resisted his advances and gasped;
"No, Ludovic ... not this!"
At that moment the doorbell rang. Both jumped up and put their clothes in order.
"That may be a visitor. I'm going to investigate."
He crossed through the living room into the anteroom and saw his valet talking to M. and Mme. Duport.
"Ah, here you are, my friend," exclaimed Etienne, "I knew you would be at home...."
"Your valet didn't seem to know it ... added Leonie in a reproachful tone.
"No, my friends, my man acted according to my special orders, but, of course, you are the exception. Palmyre has gone to dine with some friends and Marie and I are trying to touch up one of her paintings...."
"Very good," said Leonie, "We are going to spend an hour with you both. Originally we wanted to make only a short call, but now we shall stay a little longer.' Sorry, but I won't let you talk me out of it."
Ludovic didn't like her impertinence, but he controlled his feelings and said politely:
"Come in, by all means!"
When they entered Marie's boudoir, Leonie sensed immediately that they had interrupted an intimate situation. Her eyes searched Marie's face and then Ludovic's which revealed a slight embarrassment.
"Listen, Ludovic," said Leonie, "I want to tell Marie a few things which can't possibly interest you and don't concern you at all. I am sure you will leave me alone with her for a minute. You won't regret it...."
Ludovic addressed her husband:
"Come, Etienne, I suppose we have to obey the queen. Let's smoke a cigarette in the salon . .
When the men walked out, Duport whispered into Ludovic's ear:
"We merely came by to take you to Palmyre. We wanted to repeat our nice erotic attempts of last Thursday. You would have lent me your wife, and I would have put mine at your disposal."
"Too bad...." said Ludovic. "You should have let me know of your plans early in the morning. Palmyre went to St. Germain ... with Paul!"
As soon as the two women were alone, Leonie grasped Marie's hands and questioned her. "What on earth is going on here?"
"You should not be surprised at all this! Your wonderful plans seem to have stimulated Ludovic to the extent of placing me on this sofa. It was good that you rang the bell just when I felt I couldn't push him back."
"Push him back? My dear child, why in all the world would you want to do that?"
"Well ... I admit, I don't really know why I felt like that ... Perhaps because I don't want to give birth to a child that is the result of an incestuous relationship...."
"Silly! You ought to know by now that there are means to avoid pregnancies...."
"I know ... but you never can tell...."
"You don't reflect much credit on the teachings that I seem to have wasted on you. Nature has generously provided two ways for gratification. One way leads to pregnancy, the other is quite safe and permits the indulgence of sheer lust...."
Marie laughed: "Ah, you always are quick with some good advice."
"Believe me, Marie, it is time for you to let a man make a woman out of you. Let Ludovic have his way and make use of my recommendation if you should have any fears of becoming pregnant. But you must get used to being possessed by men. There will be many others beside Ludovic and you will find it quite natural. But Ludovic is one of our best males and you can learn much from him...."
Marie seemed to agree and kissed her friend. Both left Marie's boudoir and went to find the men who had settled down in a studio at the other end of the apartment.
"Ah, you traitors," said Leonie, "you wanted to get away from us as far as possible...."
"Pure discretion, my dear Leonie...."
"Discretion? It seems rather the egoism of inveterate cigar smokers. Marie wants to finish her painting tonight, Etienne, and since Palmyre is not here, let's go to Eliacin, if you like...."
"As you like, Leonie."
While Etienne said good-bye to Marie, Leonie whispered to Ludovic:
"Marie is afraid of becoming pregnant. Well, you know other pathways that lead to pleasure...."
She touched his lips with her fan and laughed.
When the couple had left, Ludovic and Marie returned to the boudoir and sat down, side by side, on the sofa. They looked at each other silently. At last, Marie asked:
"You have decided not to go any further?"
"Leonie told me of your fears...."
"And ... you will disregard my feelings?"
"Stupid! We are going to follow her excellent advice."
Marie smiled and looked up to him.
"After all, you are my older brother and I am supposed to respect your wishes. But we must keep up appearances. We shall wish each other good night in the living room where the servants can notice it. Then you retire to your own room and join me in mine in about half an hour."
"Your words are pure wisdom, Marie. That's how we shall do it."
Ludovic gave orders to the servants and sent all of them to bed except Palmyre's maid, and then went to his bedroom. After thirty minutes he passed through Palmyre's bedroom and wardrobe into the small corridor that led to Marie's bedroom. He was nude under his silk robe.
Marie had darkened her room but left the door open so that Ludovic could find his way without running against some piece of furniture. When he stepped over the threshold, Marie's arm pulled him into the room and he felt her naked body press against his. Their mouths met in a hot, wet kiss, and Marie felt a thrill course through her body at the thought of what was to come. She pressed her nakedness against Ludovic, and let him feel her richly formed breasts, her soft stomach, her curly-haired mound all at once. He responded by thrusting a heavily-muscled thigh between her legs, deep into her groin, so that the coarse hair of his leg caressed the lips of her tight cunt. She uttered a small moan and began to move against his leg, her tongue still deep in his mouth, his lips sucking at her tongue as if he would pull it out. His leg was like a great tree thrust against her, and she reached around his thigh to feel the heavy muscles that led up to his small, tight buttocks. She pinched and grasped at them, trying to pull him into her, feverishly pressing her body to his.
With a slight shrug of his shoulders, he let the robe fall from his. body and threw Marie to the floor where she lay on the thick Oriental carpet, her long hair fanning out from her head like a sunburst. She raised her arms over her head and arched her body slightly, letting her breasts rise and fall, and spreading her legs wide apart with each upward thrust. Her skin shone in the darkness as if it had a light of its own. Her limbs were beautiful, pale against the dark swirls of the patterned rug; her soft cunt hair was the only darkness on her shimmering body. She devoured Ludovic's nakedness with her eyes as he knelt beside her. He then put his large, strong hands against her breasts and began to caress them. She let her fingers wander over his muscular arms and shoulders, digging into the hard flesh.
He held her eyes in a long gaze, constantly moving his hands across her belly and into the warm, damp, crevice between her legs. His touch was light, but she felt the reserve of incredible strength surging through his powerful body as he touched her. Then she felt his fingers probing, very gently, into her cunt, circle the rapidly hardening clitoris and press urgently against it with his thumb and fingers. His expert touch aroused her and her fingers dug into the carpet beneath her, but she could not tear her eyes away from his. Then with a swift downward move, his head came to rest between her legs and his tongue replaced his fingers. She was delirious now, feeling the rapidly increasing heat within her body wash over her again and again, each time drawing every drop of her energy to that hot, burning place where Ludovic's tongue was working deeper and deeper, faster and faster.
Keeping her lips pressed together, she emitted long, low moans, digging her hands into the hair of his head, pressing it to her and locking her thighs around his neck. His hands had begun to move over the rest of her body now, and she pushed her breasts into them as they moved upward along her straining, heaving torso. Her heels kicked into his back when she felt the hottest surge of all flood from within her, and came in a tremendous orgasm as Ludovic's tongue worked quickly and surely. He continued for several seconds afterward, and then stopped. Marie's breathing was coming in short gasps as her body fought to regain control of itself. Moving his face up her belly, he paused to tongue her navel for a moment, adding an incredible flash to her decreasing orgasm. Then he lay beside her and was silent.
"I want you there. I want you there very much," she murmured into his ear as her hand took his and placed it over her cunt. He said nothing, and she knew it was impossible, but she held his hand there anyway. Then he removed it and took her hand in his, placing it around the hard, upright shaft that was arching between his thighs. She raised herself and looked at him, lying beside her, keeping her hand obediently around his throbbing cock. Their eyes met again, his asking release, hers questioning the next move. She let her gaze wander over his deep, muscular chest and the thick black hair that covered it, watching it turn to a dark river over his flat belly until it emptied into the great thing she held. She moved her small, cool hand along the length of his shaft, and the pleasure that it gave him caused him to sigh and thrust upward slightly. His heavy, dark thighs parted and her other hand caught and cupped his large balls.
Before he could ask it, Marie took his shaft in her mouth and began running her tongue along its length, letting her fingers probe the hardness of his thighs and buttocks. She paused often, unsure of the great bulk throbbing within her mouth, and Ludovic sensed that there would be quicker pleasure elsewhere. His own seed was rising fast, and he knew he could satisfy them both better. He pulled her hand from his groin and turned her over on her stomach. Placing his hands beneath her and cupping her breasts, he began to thrust at her from behind. She cried out, and he stopped.
Ludovic's probing finger tried to overcome the tightness of the sphincter in Marie's rectum and when he was sure that her excitement was high enough to drown out any initial pain, he inserted his member into it. Marie would have liked to let him enter into the right opening, but since it was too risky an experiment she contented herself to feel the phallic touch in her anal regions.
She relaxed at his command, and felt him enter her slowly filling her with his size and strength. His body pressed against hers, his heavy muscles grinding her against the carpet as he began the short jerky movements that pushed him far up into her. A warmth filled her and she pressed her lips to the soft skin of her arm as his thrusts came harder and faster. Then suddenly his mouth captured hers as he turned her face to his, and wrapped completely in his arms, encompassed and crushed by his incredible strength, she felt herself come again, as his cock shot its load far into the reaches of her body.
When Leonie was informed of the success of the affair, she came to see Marie the next day and congratulated her in person.
"Now the first step has been taken, my dear," she assured her, "and the rest will be easy . .
Marie smiled but did not answer.
CHAPTER EIGHT
JULIETTE AND MARCEL DELRIEU
Marcel was very happy with Juliette, whose identity was not quite clear to him. She was the legitimate wife of some provincial gentleman, as she had told him, and yet she was quite familiar with all the ruses of an accomplished cocotte.
The erotic talent of the beautiful woman whipped up all his sexual powers which, of course, were not the same as in his twenties. He rubbed his body against hers, pressed and caressed her breasts and let his hands wander over every part of her body. At last he pressed her into a coital position, but suddenly he hesitated and said:
"No, it's still too early to finish all this pleasure...."
But Juliette wanted to hurry things and as soon as she felt him mounting her she caressed his partially stiff cock with her thighs so that it soon was ready for battle. Marcel penetrated her paradise and deposited the tribute of his ardor.
After the shining moment, he kept lying on that beautiful body which seemed to press against his as if to stimulate him into a renewal of the game.
"What's the matter, friend?" she asked. "Is that all you are offering me?"
"Well, for the time being ... yes," he said, a little subdued.
Juliette was tactful enough not to urge him on, but kissed him on his forehead and said: "You ate more with your eyes than with your body!"
"Don't ever think that I am not as crazy about you as I was when we met...."
"Never mind! You possessed me and my body responded to yours and my soul was not merely a detached onlooker...."
"Your soul? You are a remarkable person! Shall I ever see you again?"
"That depends entirely on you...."
"What about tomorrow?"
"I don't know...."
"Didn't you tell me that you offer your body to strangers only to replenish your wardrobe?"
"Certainly, but...."
"Then I'll give you another two hundred francs and we shall meet again tomorrow in this place."
"All right, my dear. When will you be here tomorrow?"
"From eight p.m. on...."
"Marvelous! I have 24 hours in which I can hope and look forward to more happiness ... I'll leave you now."
"You know, the happiness of expectation is often greater than the actual experience...."
"That may be so, but I shall not renounce the actual experience."
Marcel began to dress and again he believed he heard something, or somebody, in the adjoining room, but he was soon distracted by the view of Juliette who began to dress herself lazily and show off every curve of her figure.
"It is half-past ten, now," said Marcel, "are you going to leave with me?"
"No!"
"I would have liked to offer you some snack...."
"Sorry, but it is too late for that...."
"You are going to sleep here?"
"No!"
"Or ... perhaps you expect another lover?"
"O, no! I have to be at my parents' place by midnight. They think I have gone to the theater with some friends."
"Ah, that sounds much better...."
"But why? You can't possibly be jealous?"
"Why not? It could easily happen...."
"That is ridiculous! You hardly know me ..
"On the contrary! I feel as if I had always known you...."
When he had finished dressing, he searched his wallet in which he found only one more one hundred franc bill. He hesitated and said: "This whole adventure is quite strange. I am ashamed to have to offer you only money, but since I don't have any more one hundred franc bills except this, I'll have to give you gold pieces ... I apologize!"
"Your tact is very reassuring and I must thank you for being so sensitive! If I didn't need that toilet money so urgently, I wouldn't accept anything at all. But since I am unfaithful to my husband I must at least save him some expenses when it comes to buying new clothes...."
"Oh, that poor husband of yours! I hope he does not suspect the origin of all the additions to your wardrobe."
"I told you that he thinks my parents and their friends provide me with gifts."
"Are your parents so rich?"
"More or less...."
"And they don't do much for your welfare?"
"No, nothing!"
"But they must know your financial situation."
"Not at all! They think my husband is a very rich man, which he isn't."
"Then you are deceiving your parents, too! You are a strange woman, indeed. And so beautiful! Well ... until tomorrow, my dear!"
Juliette, still in her chemise, accompanied him to the door. When he had gone she already found Eliacin, Paola and Prosper in the large room.
"Well, my dears? How did I do?"
"You are a genius!" said her husband. "Excellent! One would think you had attended a school for courtesans...."
Juliette was radiant.
"Oh, you want to flatter me! It was not so difficult as it might seem. Come and talk to me while I am taking a bath...."
They all went to the bathroom where she asked Paola to unlace her shoes, but Prosper quickly said:
"O no! I am going to play the part of your chambermaid...."
"Prosper, you seem to want to be the successor of Marcel, eh?"
"Well, your husband and Paola have already tasted a little pleasure and left me all to myself...."
"And you feel bad?"
"You know, it is not enough to be merely the onlooker."
"Poor Prosper!"
"You are teasing me! Well, if you are not too tired after your bath, why don't we?"
"Oh, you want me to become more tired?"
"No, only with your permission!"
"Well, let me take my bath, first!"
She took off her shirt, stockings and shoes, and let Prosper help her glide into the warm water in the tub. Half an hour later she felt fresh and scented with some stimulating perfume and was quite ready to spend the night with Prosper Rastegue. It was a pleasure that neither of them would have liked to miss.
Eliacin and Paola had the decency to leave the couple to themselves. It was Juliette who had given her husband a distinct hint to content himself with Paola, at least, for this night.
CHAPTER NINE
JULIETTE'S SECOND ADVENTURE
Juliette slept until noon. She wanted to be fresh and quite prepared for her next bout with Marcel.
Her husband had received an urgent telegram that called him to a business conference in Dijon and she had permitted him to take Paola with him.
It was decided to let Ludovic and Palmyre, assisted by Prosper Rastegue, take over the observation service for the night. Everyone was at his post by eight o'clock.
When Marcel Delrieu arrived he was baffled by the beauty of Juliette who paraded a new, very elegant dress. It was a robe of yellow silk, ornamented with black lace. She looked like a duchess receiving royalty.
Marcel went down on his knees and gasped: "I can't help it. I must worship your beauty!" Juliette gave him a friendly slap on his cheek and asked, flirtatiously: "Flatterer! Have you thought of me during the day?"
"I haven't done anything else...."
"So much the better!"
"Call me by my first name, at last...."
"I'll do it at the right time...."
Juliette wanted him to get up from his kneeling position.
"How long do you propose to remain on your knees?"
"Let me adore you...."
"All right, but I want to hear your worshipful words, too...."
"I would like to, but I prefer to skip the words and begin the ritual. Permit me to lift this beautiful dress to see whether the underclothes are as elegant as the covering...."
"You know all about that since last night...."
"Yes, but that doesn't justify you in stopping my hand from investigating, merciless beauty!" Without any further delay Marcel lifted her dress and feasted his eyes on the black-stockinged legs, and, a little higher, the white pillars of the perfect thighs. His excitement of the previous night returned and he gently pushed Juliette down on the sofa where she sat in a reclining position, exposing the uncovered part of her body.
"Well, my friend, have you seen enough?
Is what you see below my dress just as valuable as the dress itself?"
"Of course, but why are you trying to rob me of this wonderful view?"
"Because you need a little rest. It seems that coming up the stairs has tired you . .
"On the contrary! Seeing a person like you drives all tiredness away!"
"Let's play it safe, shall we? Why don't you sit down at my side and make polite conversation for a while?"
Marcel complied and both started to talk about all sorts of things, proving that they had many ideas and opinions in common.
"You see," said Juliette, "that a meeting of the minds makes a meeting of the bodies far more intimate. We are beginning to feel like friends who have known each other for some time. How much better can we enjoy our physical intimacy when it is preceded by a mutual spiritual harmony!"
"You are right, my dear, but it is not often possible to talk with a woman about all the things that you understand and discuss with such exquisite taste...."
"Flatterer! Tell me something more about yourself. You seem to be crazy about women, in general?"
"I adore them...."
"If you adore all, you can't be faithful to any of them...."
"My beautiful friend, I strongly suspect that what is commonly called faithfulness is merely something that weak and sexless people use to rationalize their lack of real passion. The word seems to have been invented to prevent our women from experimenting with different men and thus make comparisons...."
"That is an interesting supposition."
"Yes, it results from my long experience."
"I believe you, but, on the other hand it is true that no matter how much you would love me, it would never prevent you from desiring other women. And that would not be exactly flattering for me."
"I would never desire other women as long as I can have you! I love you more than I can say ... Look! Here is the proof of my feelings ... It is almost bursting my trousers!"
"Please, don't talk nonsense! You want to sleep with me, but you don't love me. How could you possibly love me after the agreement we made yesterday which was quite clear to both of us?"
"Oh, you're saying this only to stimulate me more and more! But it is true that you are the first woman-and I've known many-who could chain me to herself...."
"I can't understand you! For you I am nothing but a courtesan...."
"Don't underrate courtesans! They are often more interesting and more desirable than so-called respectable women. All right, you are married, but if you were not, you'd be one of the most cherished courtesans in this country."
"I appreciate the compliment, but you must admit that you would never wait for my yearly visits to Paris whenever you want a woman...."
"Why? Would you perhaps remain faithful to me?"
"Perhaps! Of course, I could not refuse my own husband . .
"You are mistaken! Do you really believe that a man of my age expects a woman to be faithful to him? You are young and beautiful! And we are wasting too much time in conversation. We met only yesterday and we don't know whether we'll see each other tomorrow, or any other day . .
"I am beginning to become quite fond of you ... but ... as you wish. Let's stop talking about it!"
She stepped in front of the mirror, assuming a challenging pose and fluffing up her hair, hoping to arouse her partner to action.
Marcel did not move. He seemed to think of something. Suddenly, pretending to remove a white thread from her dress, he lifted the back of her dress and bared her well-turned calves. The effect was instantaneous. He opened the front of her dress and pressed his lips on her throat and on her breasts.
He begged her to undress and lie down on the sofa like last night. He himself shed all his clothing and bent over the nakedness of Juliette, who obediently turned her face to the wall. Marcel squatted next to her on the carpet and whispered shyly:
"Please, let me take you here...."
He tried to get his finger into her rectum. Juliette protested:
"You must be mad . .
"Let me at least put it there without going any further...."
"That is not permitted!"
"All is permitted in love...."
"Prove it to me...!"
He touched her behind with his belly and his soft priapus, but it was either his fatigue, or Juliette's protest, which kept him from having an erection.
At last, he lay down next to her and kissed her lips and throat and asked:
"Why don't you let me possess you in various ways? You would like it...."
"How do you know? No, I don't like that position!"
"You just want to be mean! What is there to be afraid of? At least you would have the guarantee not to become pregnant...."
"I just dislike this sort of thing! It is atrocious...."
"Whoever told you that?"
"Nobody has to tell me what is repulsive, and what is not!"
Meanwhile her skilled hands caressed his reluctant member until it was at last as stiff as a branch. And Marcel, being only mortal, was soon doing what she wanted him to do and his, climax seemed to make him even happier than last night. Juliette had correctly guessed that his main problem was to get an erection and that he wanted to get it through means he had found useful. But by showing him that she could rouse his potency in her own way, she gained control over him.
"Here are five hundred francs for tomorrow," Marcel said, "but the stipulation is that you must do what I want you to do...." Juliette laughed.
"What? Five hundred francs? You are a dangerous man."
"Well? How about it?"
"Give me the money, you politician, and we shall see whether that will help me to overcome my scruples ... until tomorrow."
She showed him again to the door and when she joined the others who had come out of their hiding places, she was greeted by Ludovic.
"Ha, you Cleopatra, you Messalina! You really are giving a wonderful performance of your art!"
"I will show you that I can do as much for my friends as for strangers, but ... off with your hand, Ludovic! First let me take my bath...."
She noticed that Ludovic and Palmyre and Prosper were all stark naked and it occurred to her that they must have been quite busy between them while looking through the peep holes. She hurried through her bath and joined the others who had already begun to try out several new positions. Palmyre assumed all sorts of poses and Prosper used the moments when she was bending forward to stick his cock alternately, between the thighs, the buttocks, then again under her arms and her breasts.
Palmyre was ecstatic.
"Look Ludovic," she yelled, "look and see what your brother is doing to your wife here...."
Ludovic who was quite busy with Juliette, replied calmly:
"Do I have to hold a light in front of you so that Prosper can see what he is doing?"
"I wouldn't dream of inconveniencing Juliette by asking you to pull out of her charming hole ... Go right on with your work."
The orgy lasted for another hour and then they enjoyed a warmed-up dinner that had been prepared before by caterers. They discussed their future plans until late in the night when Juliette fell asleep in Ludovic's arms, while Palmyre did the same lying close against Prosper.
CHAPTER TEN
ADRIENNE BEAU SI RE, NEE RASTEGUE
Ludovic's 23-year-old sister impressed men with her ripe, Junoesque figure, her strong hips and her southern temperament that was also noticeable in her black and brilliant eyes. Her movements had the feline grace of a lioness and the men considered her the most passionate among all the women of the Collective, with the exception of Leonie Duport.
Up to the day when Adrienne signed the contract binding her as a member to the Love Collective, she had plenty of opportunities to prove her erotic talents. When she had become pregnant by the first husband of Mme. Duport, it was Leonie who compelled Desire Beausire to marry the eighteen year old girl. And she had become a very good friend of Palmyre Vautrin, who was to marry her brother Ludovic.
It was on the occasion of one of her visits to Leonie-who was still married to her first, late husband, Barrere-that the latter seduced her and got her pregnant. At that time Leonie had an affaire with Beausire who was completely under her influence so that it was not difficult to induce him to marry the pregnant Adrienne. Desire did not have to regret his humanitarian action since his young wife surprised him with her erotic knowledge which indeed was surprising, if not shocking, in such a young woman.
After Barrere's death Leonie married Etienne Duport who at once became a slave to all of his wife's caprices. Desire, on the other hand, was so infatuated with Adrienne that he remained faithful to her for quite some time until Leonie took care to arrange a get-together between Palmyre and Desire which took the expected turn. Once it became known what a desirable male Adrienne's husband was, he was handed around with great zeal.
Desire was handsomely built and very strong. When a woman felt him lying on top of her she often did not know whether his muscular thighs were made of bone and flesh, or of steel. His wife did not discover his new affairs for several weeks until one evening when her brother Ludovic and his wife and Etienne Duport and Leonie were her dinner guests.
She did not mind the ambiguous jokes that Palmyre exchanged with Desire during the meal, but when the coffee was served she noticed that Palmyre left the room after giving Desire a meaningful look. Nobody else seemed to pay any attention to that detail, but Adrienne's suspicion was aroused. She went upstairs and looked through several rooms until some whispered conversation made her walk to the guest room in the west wing. She recognized the voices of her husband and Palmyre. While she stopped before the door and tried to overcome the shock, Etienne Duport caught up with her and touched her arm.
"Get hold of yourself!"
"What? I should tolerate what is going on in that room?"
"At least for the moment! Your brother wants to talk to you. Come downstairs with me, please!"
Adrienne followed Etienne to the salon where Ludovic gave her a good scolding.
"Don't be ridiculous, Adrienne. If I am not jealous as far as Palmyre is concerned, you don't have to be jealous about your husband...."
"But, Ludovic! How can you tolerate such a thing?"
"We all tolerate things like that. Look! I am embracing Leonie right here before Etienne and making her sit on my lap. Now! Do you notice that her husband is becoming angry?"
"You are all crazy!"
"Don't be absurd, Adrienne!"
"But ... but...."
"You are merely the victim of your upbringing, a very hypocritical one at that! Kiss Etienne! He is anxious to make love to you! Aren't we all intimately united within our circle?"
Adrienne tried to keep up appearances by putting up some resistance, but when it was time to retire, she shared a bed with Etienne, while Desire slept with Palmyre, and Ludovic with Leonie.
This wife and husband swapping became an accepted habit and when the time came to undersign the contract for the Love Collective, Adrienne did not put up any difficulties. On the contrary, the new promiscuity had stirred up her passionate nature into a white-hot fury. When her women friends mentioned the length and skill of her brother's penis, she was invaded by a strange longing to let Ludovic possess her. He had no idea what was going on in Adrienne's mind.
When it became known how Leonie had crept into her brother Charles' bed, Adrienne decided on some action. Marie, who had been deflowered by Ludovic, came to stay with the Beausires for a few days and Adrienne said to her:
"Listen, my dear! You admitted that Ludovic has awakened quite natural desires in you. I am willing to give you some opportunity to have lots of pleasure. Try to flirt with Desire who will soon take up the cue and go to bed with you. That gives me a chance to do something on my own. I want to leave for a while and have some fun with Ludovic...."
"Depend on me!" said Marie. "It won't be difficult to catch Desire's attention. But I hope you will help me somehow."
"Don't worry, I'll think of something!"
One evening Marie left the dinner table with the excuse of nursing a headache in her room. Before it was time to retire, Adrienne took her husband up to Marie's room to see-as she told him-whether the girl's headache had abated.
Marie was lying with her face toward the wall and did not stir when her hosts entered the room after a slight knock on the door. Adrienne cautiously removed the blanket from Marie's body which was stark naked. She watched Desire pretending to look away and whispered:
"Look, what a beautiful body asking to be caressed...."
Desire remained silent and both left Marie's room, but Adrienne did not give up and said: "What a beauty that girl is! What wonderful complexion! If I were a man I'd hurry to wake her up and give her all the pleasure she deserves!"
Desire actually blushed for a moment and asked:
"What on earth are you driving at, Adrienne?"
"Can't you guess? Suppose you'd sneak into bed with her and gently wake her up; the moment she'd feel your legs against hers, you would not have to worry about how to pass the night with her...."
"Are you sure? What if she begins to yell?"
"Marie? ... Yell?"
Desire was convinced now. When he joined Marie after a few minutes, she was highly gratified to enjoy a strong male like her sister's husband. And being a very potent man, he did not neglect his wife either. After three nights with Marie he gave vivid proof to his wife that his erections were untiring and ever ready. Marie, on her part, learned a great deal from Desire and, being an instinctively passionate performer she never tired her lover to the point of exhaustion.
But during the tenth night with Desire, Marie had the satisfaction to see him falling asleep on her bosom. Hearing about this, Adrienne said:
"At last! Now I can afford to take Ludovic on a trip. Desire has become accustomed to you and won't miss me for a while."
She wrote Ludovic a few lines notifying him of her impending visit and, before leaving, asked her husband to be very careful so as not to compromise Marie before others.
"Don't be afraid...." he assured her, "I will take good care of everything here. And you, in your turn, should try to have a really good time . .
"I'll do my best. . she said without letting him know what she was up to.
She took a room in a small hotel on one of the Boulevards and sent her brother the following note:
"Dear Ludovic! You can see my present address on this stationary. I am expecting you tonight around 9 o'clock. Ask at the desk for Mme. de Lussac under which name I have registered here."
Ludovic made his appearance at the appointed hour. But as soon as he had knocked at her door and followed her muffled "Come in!", he immediately realized what she expected of him. She received him stark naked and embraced him with a violence which nearly threw them to the floor. With her mouth still against his, she ripped open his shirt and began to caress his naked chest. The sensation of hard muscle covered with thick hair aroused her even more and she pulled him against her breasts, rubbing their tender tips against the roughness. Ludovic's hands grasped her buttocks and one of his fingers immediately pushed its way into her rectum. She groaned and pulled his other hand toward her cunt, shoving it in and pressing herself against it.
His fingers found her deep and hot, already wet with the fluids that were running from her. Her cunt was alive, devouring his fingers as they dug deeper and deeper into her. Then she pulled away, moving to the bed, where she threw herself on her back and opened her arms, every muscle of her body awaiting the crushing weight of her lover. He was shirtless now, but still wore his pants, through which she could see the tremendous bulge of his cock. She had never realized how magnificent he was and a new surge swept through her. Ludovic watched as she pressed both her heavy breasts in her hands, then upwards toward him, inviting him to take them. He removed his pants quickly and his huge cock swung outward, grazing her thigh as he came to rest beside her. Taking her breasts he roughly tongued the tips until Adrienne was making delirious little moans, tossing her body against his, begging for his entrance. He did not delay. Raising himself up on his muscular arms, he thrust forward and with one move was completely sheathed in her.
Adrienne responded with a sharp cry, then with a succession of fast, heaving movements, which brought him as far within her as he could go. He began to move, faster and faster, pumping all his energy with savage speed and force, ripping into her. Her breasts were mashed against his chest, and she made small, rippling movements with the upper part of her body to increase the friction on them. As Ludovic's rhythm grew more and more frantic, she sank her teeth deep into his shoulder. The pain brought him to the brink of a climax, and he paused mid-thrust. Adrienne cried out in fury at him and arched up just as he completed his thrust and nearly tore through her. At the deepest point, he came in a hot torrent, still thrusting madly as his seed flowed into her in a great river. She arched once more against him and came, sobbing and crying out, digging her nails into his back, seeking a love-death at the end of his great shaft.
Without removing his cock from her, Ludovic rolled over and pulled Adrienne on top of him, and began to thrust again. The surprise caused her to scream in ecstasy. His breath was coming in sharp cries, his hands threatening to pull her body apart, and she responded by yielding completely to the force of his attack. Moments later it seemed to her that he had come again. His movements ceased and his arms fell away from her and over the sides of the bed. She raised herself and was free of him. His huge chest rose and fell with great gulps of air as she took one of his hands and forced it into her throbbing cunt. His fingers mixing with the juice of her climax and his own seed, brought her to another orgasm, and she fell on top of him, unconscious.
After that first and rather wild night together, Ludovic suggested that they should take a trip south, to Orleans. They registered at some fashionable hotel there as man and wife, and enjoyed a whole week of delightful em braces hardly taking enough time to go out and eat. Adrienne was forced to confirm the praise her woman friends had bestowed on the vigor and passion of Ludovic's performance.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
MARCEL DELRIEU
Marcel's adventure with Juliette kept him thinking all day. He had enjoyed sexual bouts with women since his puberty, and now, at 50, his prowess no longer remarkable, he had to resort to all sorts of out-of-the-way means to achieve an erection.
Now he had met a woman who told him, undoubtedly, a lot of lies, to cover up the fact that she was a prostitute, or at least a kept woman. He felt it unworthy of him to fall in love with such a woman, who had already cost him 900 francs. He decided to end the affair tonight.
Suddenly, he saw Juliette, or a woman that looked like her, clad in a dazzling costume, flit by in a horse-drawn carriage. He stopped and rubbed his eyes. No, he must have been fooled by a stupendous resemblance to Juliette, he told himself. But he suddenly remembered that the eyes of that young woman had detected him and that at that very moment she had become pale and turned her face away. This little detail kept bothering him and he continued his walk, muttering in a low voice:
"Yes, it was she! There's something fishy going on. If she is really a great lady, I won't see her again. She won't come back to the Rue des Grandes-Ecluses. But ... I think she is sincere about her promises. She accepted the money and will go through with the deal." When the time had arrived, he knocked with a trembling hand at the door of the apartment. It was Juliette herself who opened and invited him to enter. When he saw her standing in the lighted room, delightfully attractive in a costly dress, he fell at her feet and reproached her: "You actually dared to go out?"
"Why not?"
"It is raining and your dress is dry."
She pointed to a waterproof coat that was lying on the sofa.
"It's quite easy to go in a rain...."
"Oh yes, I didn't think of that ... You are really a very ingenious woman...."
"For myself, yes ... but not for others...." Marcel squatted in front of her and admired her costume that was an imitation of the shepherdess dresses worn by Marie Antoinette at the Trianon. When she sat down in an armchair Marcel remained on his knees in front of her and let his hands wander up her legs and thighs, trying to remove the lace of her petticoats in order to feel pubic hair. Suddenly his fingers touched some smooth fabric that prevented his going any further.
"What is this?" he asked.
"You'll soon find out!"
"All right! But tell me the truth now. Was that you who I saw driving by in an elegant carriage a while ago...."
"My God, where?"
"On the Boulevards...."
"No ... "
"I am sure it was you!"
"Why didn't you greet me if you thought it was me? The reaction of that lady would have shown you whether she knew you, or not."
"I told you, you were driving in an elegant carriage which went by so fast that you wouldn't have noticed any greeting...."
"In a carriage, you said? My good Marcel, do you think I'd worry so much about getting new dresses if I could afford a carriage and horses?"
"Your reasoning makes sense, but on the other hand, this shepherdess costume you are wearing must have cost a great deal of money. And what's more, you couldn't possibly wear it in your parochial little town...."
"You are mistaken! I had this costume made to wear at a masked ball that will take place very soon in our town hall."
"What? You lead a regular social life in that provincial place?"
"Why not? The position of my husband demands as much of me."
"You must always be surrounded by a lot of admirers on such occasions . .
"All of them are necessarily platonic. You see, in my little town I have to be quite reserved."
"Interesting! Just the opposite of what you try to be here."
"Yes! Life is a series of contrasts!"
She got up and paced the room swinging her hips like a regular coquette. Marcel remained on his knees and devoured her with his eyes. She stopped in front of him and stroked his cheek with her finger tips.
"Did you miss your little courtesan all day?"
"I never placed you in that category...."
"No? Well, I know my own value. Anyway, your generosity will be reciprocated. I'll give you pleasure ... You will be very satisfied...."
"You are not a woman...."
Marcel seemed in a trance. Juliette began to laugh.
"My dear friend, I thought you noticed that my body is decidedly female and not male!"
"Oh, I didn't mean that ... I wanted to say you are really an angel in female form...."
"Oh, come now! Not so much sentimentality." She permitted his hand to explore the new kind of panties she wore. It was something made of rubber and covered with velvet and fitted her abdomen and upper thighs quite snugly. Marcel noticed a vertical gap through which he tried to insert his fingers, but a quick movement of Juliette's made the gap snap shut and almost hurt his fingers.
Marcel was puzzled.
"What's the meaning of this strange piece of underwear?"
Juliette laughed.
"Oh, just a little handicap to get you more excited...."
"You are a cunning minx!"
The hidden observers in the adjoining cabinet had a hard time suppressing their amusement. Tonight it was Lina Castex who had to study Juliette's method to imitate it the following week when she was going to take over the acquisition service. Next to her were her brother Ernest and Jacques Nassau, who had a weakness for her, something which he didn't try to hide. Lina had let the young man dangle for some time before she went to bed with him. As a rule she never gave in to the urgings of a man until her hesitation had driven him half mad. Her favorite was Ludovic Rastegue who had suggested that she was to play a very active part during their phalansteric meetings, a suggestion that was enthusiastically received by other men.
Of course, it took some time until men discovered that Lina's reserve immediately melted away when she had something to do with a beautiful woman. Elise Leydier and Juliette Sizac testified to the fact that they had never met a Lesbian who was able to satisfy a woman friend as thoroughly as Lina Castex.
At the moment, she was stimulated by the spectacle of Juliette and Marcel, and told Jacques and Ernest that she would be willing to share some pleasure with them, stipulating:
"But only if you let me watch the proceedings now without diverting my attention too much...."
Jacques at once went down on her and worked on her clitoris with his tongue, while Ernest caressed her rectum with his fingers.
Meanwhile Marcel and Juliette had begun to divest themselves of their clothes and to Marcel's annoyance she did not drop those rubber panties. After she had teased him long enough to increase his urge to a semblance of youthful passion, she slipped off the panties and united with Marcel in a long drawn-out sixty-nine position. She was prudent enough not to bring about his ejaculation so that his erection could be used for something he desired very badly, namely a rectal coitus.
Juliette did feel some pain when Marcel penetrated her behind, but it took only a few seconds for her temporarily rejuvenated lover to reach his climax. Afterward he had to rest for more than fifteen minutes to recover from that one ejaculation. Juliette was surprised when he dressed himself without saying anything and walked toward the door.
"What's the matter with you, Marcel? Am I going to see you tomorrow?"
"No!"
"Are you serious?"
"Yes, as a matter-of-fact I should be commited to an insane asylum...."
"What has come over you?"
"It's quite logical! I must try to get along without you and not become habituated to a woman like you. You don't live in Paris, after all ... and ... and...."
"You mean to say that that is the reason why you want to renounce your pleasure?"
"Yes, and I think it's a good reason...."
"Then we shall say good-bye to each other?"
"Yes, it has to be...."
"For always...."
"Yes...."
"I don't want that ... I have to see you again...."
"When?"
"I don't know ... Why don't you send a message to this place whenever you want to come here. If I receive your word 24 hours before the rendezvous we can always meet ... that is, should I be in Paris...."
"So ... if I don't come here tomorrow, you are going to receive another man?"
"No, I shall be free."
"But you will leave Paris after a while?"
"I'll have to...."
You are cruel...."
"My dear Marcel, don't forget we met on the street and we just can't...."
"Oh Juliette, I had hoped...."
"You can always hope when you love somebody."
Marcel looked sad and took his leave.
When Juliette joined her three friends who had entered the salon in the meantime, she said:
"I am sure he will return."
Lina's disorderly clothes betrayed what she had been doing with the men in front of the peep holes. Juliette teased her:
"Ah, I see you have imitated me already!
And with which of the two?"
"With both of them! They just didn't leave me alone. It was a hectic observation job!"
"Wonderful! Well ... whoever wants to take a bath may join me...."
Five minutes later a very elaborate orgy developed in the bathroom and it would take half a book to describe all the details of the variegated love play.
CHAPTER TWELVE
GEORGETTE CAPRINA
Apart from the persons already mentioned there were several others who showed a lively interest in the founding of a phalansteric Love Collective.
The experiment had not only the purpose to counteract the repressions imposed by the prudish mores of the times, but also to convince the participating members that a collective enjoyment of sex activity would be able to lift the dreariness of the coital act from the narrow Victorian secretiveness of the alcove toward a joyous, openly experienced adventure that permitted a height of pleasure not commonly felt by philistines.
The best illustration for such expectations lay in a pronouncement made by Eliacin Sizac when he witnessed a particularly spirited performance of his wife, Juliette, with her acquisition, Marcel. He said:
"Never before have I admired the beauty and the passion of my wife to the extent that was possible when I saw her display her talents for the sake of another man."
To watch one's wife or mistress being possessed by many men, in many different manners and positions, was what heightened the appreciation of these husbands and friends.
Suppressed jealousy was converted into an exuberant eroticism and every male and female made the rounds of as many embraces as possible, praising the various skills of their respective partners.
While Juliette was doing her best to rouse enough longing in Marcel to tie him to her circle permanently, two other members of the phalansteric family had decided to win over a member of the clergy, a truly daring plan.
Lionel Sifferland's preceptor, a certain Abbe Fosca, introduced the young man to the Italian family, Caprina, whose oldest daughter became Lionel's wife when she was only sixteen. The Abbe Fosca happened to be the lover of the widow Caprina and aided the marriage of Lionel with Theresita chiefly because he wanted to take her mother with him to Italy to enjoy her there, undisturbed by any family duties. The younger daughter, Georgette Caprina, remained under the guardianship of her brother in-law, Lionel, and continued to live as a boarding-student in a convent school.
Abbe Fosca, whose relationship with the widow Caprina was no secret to Lionel, told the latter before his departure:
"Should you have to deal with any kind of trouble or unpleasantness in any form, don't hesitate to turn to my friend the Abbe Thresse who will help you with pleasure."
Lionel thanked his parting preceptor from whom he had learned a considerable amount of things which are usually not taught by priests. It was the Abbe who had introduced Lionel to the Nassaus, who had just come to the end of their honeymoon, so that Lionel appeared on the scene at the opportune moment to become the lover of Nathalie Nassau, thus extending the training he had received from Abbe Fosca. She promised him the enjoyment of her younger sister, Madelaine Pellen, provided he permitted Theresita to become her husband's mistress. Both conditions were accepted.
Lionel was glad to find his wife so understanding when he informed her of his deals with Nathalie Nassau. For a girl of sixteen and a half years of age she was already very sophisticated. It is interesting to notice how Abbe Fosca's love for the widow Caprina blinded him to anything else, so that he never found out about the Love Collective of Paul Gerando and the others.
During eighteen months the Sifferlands had no social life except the company of the Nassaus and the Assenacs. At the end of that period Georgette Caprina became 15 and attracted the attention of her guardian Lionel when she spent her summer vacation in his house. Theresita, noticing her husband's new interest, did everything to get her youngest sister into Lionel's bed, all the more so as she herself was very occupied with her lover, Jacques.
The situation was rather complicated. When the three families spent their time in the country, Theresita slept with Jacques, Georgette with Lionel, Nathalie with Louis Assenac and Caroline Assenac with Madelaine Pellen.
In this atmosphere of uninhibited sensuality Georgette made rapid progress and although she was the youngest female of the circle she became the most daring and inventive, which earned her the admiration and praise of all concerned. In spite of her fiery passion, Georgette kept her head all the time and permitted her lover only rectal intercourse which was the safest means of avoiding pregnancy. And since Lionel was quite fond of anal coitus, both of them got along very well with each other.
Georgette promised him a bonus:
"On my wedding night, you will be the first who will be permitted to possess me the regular way...."
Lionel didn't doubt her words. As soon as the Collective began to function, it became Lionel's assignment to accompany Bertha Gerando. Both Mmes. Sifferland-meaning Theresita and her sister-received a new visitor, the Abbe Thresse who had been intimate with Theresita some time before.
The Abbe winked at Theresita thus giving her to understand that she should send her sister away under some pretext, but to his utmost surprise she sat down on his knees, kissed him, and said:
"A lot of things have changed around here. I believe that Lionel will be able to give you all the details...."
"What? Lionel?"
"Yes! Georgette, show the Abbe your little play. She would have shown it to you anyway tomorrow morning when she and my husband will be having breakfast with you. But read it now and tell me whether you would not like to play the leading role."
The Abbe read:
The Butterfly
He looked questioningly at Georgette and then made her sit down on his other knee so that the two sisters faced each other.
"Well! Our little Georgette! Who would have thought of such a precocious development...." In other words, you have outgrown your adolescence and are about to become a woman?"
"Tomorrow, Abbe, I'll give you a chance to see for yourself."
"I'm looking forward to it ... but, for the moment ... would you mind leaving your sister alone with me so that I can receive her confession?"
"By all means, Abbe!" said Georgette and got up from his knee.
Upon returning home, the Abbe read through the whole script of the play. It was supposed to be a comedy with three acting characters. He read the synopsis on the first page:
"Once upon a time there lived a beautiful fairy who needed the embraces of males so much that she tried her best to get them into her snares. But no matter how greedy her mood, she showed herself only when two men appeared at a place near her castle. One evening a priest and a young student met near the old castle and when the student reminded the priest of the reputation of the place, the latter expressed his skepticism about the truth of that old piece of folklore. Nevertheless, both decided to enter the castle and wait a while in the large hall to see what might happen. When the clock struck nine, the door opened itself and the fairy entered. She was half nude and lured both men to get closer to her. She permitted them to grope and caress her body in all possible places so that both were ready to possess her. But the priest was quicker and enjoyed her in the Sodomitic manner while the poor student had to look on."
The Abbe was already excited and murmured to himself:
"Ah, what a wonderful chance to play the part of the priest! Tomorrow, Lionel will offer me his young sister-in-law, Georgette, without knowing that I have already been the lover of his wife. I hope there is no trap in there for me! Let's see the various scenes! Well, they are a little daring, I must say, but everything seems above-board. The girl has become a regular courtesan and she was not even Fosca's pupil! But ... O, yes ... Lionel studied with Fosca! He must have finished Georgette's education."
As promised, Lionel and Georgette arrived at the Abbe's house just in time for breakfast. The girl was not tall, but beautifully formed and could use her brilliant dark eyes to look at a man so provocatively that he almost felt her hand slip into his trousers before she actually did it. She wore a black silk dress that fitted her like a sheath, hiding nothing of her charms.
The Abbe answered the door, and asked with a smile:
"Well, the fairy has left her castle?"
"Yes, because she wants to please you!"
The Abbe, a tall and robust man of forty, was about twice the size of the girl, a fact that made him hesitant. But Lionel assured him: "The act of love has nothing to do with the size of your fairy, Abbe...."
"No, Lionel, but rather with my own size. It is sad that my expectations won't come true!"
"Don't worry about that, Abbe! Look here! This wonderful pair of buttocks is the behind of a woman, not of a young girl! And this be hind has been often pierced by my own joystick . .
He had lifted Georgette's dress and showed the Abbe her delightful behind. He touched the two hemispheres with an almost worshipful awe and said:
"When fairies become a reality and assume human form and human flesh, they still keep their fairy-like excellence, somehow...." Lionel dropped the dress and said:
"Enough of these preliminaries! After breakfast, Georgette will make us perform her little play, but until then we should control ourselves...."
"You are cruel, children, to let me wait so long...."
"Let's start our breakfast. Is it ready?"
"You have only to give the order!"
They sat down at the table and began to eat and drink.
"Abbe, we presume you have studied your part very well?"
"Indeed, I have! But you, Georgette, are you really going to put on the scanty costume of the fairy as you describe it?"
"Certainly, but not now!"
"We are going to play that comedy, then, exactly as you have written it?"
"Absolutely!"
"Would you mind telling me, Lionel, why I was chosen to share in such a good fortune?"
"You know, Abbe, that I was a pupil of Fosca. That explains much!"
"No, not quite! I don't see the connection!"
"Fosca taught me to trust in people whom I consider my friends. And you are my friend ..
"Without doubt! But what exactly is your purpose in choosing me?"
"None other than to let you share our pleasure! You won't regret anything, Abbe, but right now don't let us think of our roles...."
"I really have the most thankful role...."You have deserved it, my dear Abbe! And, by the way, my own role, though secondary, is not exactly unpleasant either . .
Breakfast was quite a substantial meal with wine which stimulated the already agitated emotions of everybody concerned. The Abbe had seen to it that a large sofa and a few deep armchairs were put in the room in order to be prepared for all eventualities during the performance of the play.
Both men kept teasing Georgette with words and gestures, pinching her full thighs, and touching her inviting breasts, but the girl remained firm about postponing all intimacies until after breakfast.
When the table had at last been cleared, Georgette retired to the adjoining room and took off all clothing except her thin, transparent chemise. Coming back to her two "co-actors" she took over the direction of her play and drove the two men into an erotic frenzy that exceeded the planned performance. The Abbe, remembering the scenario, began to get excited immediately. He tore off his dark robes and collar, and exposed his huge body to her. She looked at him for a moment, then the two of them laughed together. Lionel stood by the side and watched as the Abbe lifted Georgette with one arm from behind, and pressed her buttocks against his cock. At the same time, with his free hand he began to finger her clitoris, pinching and poking her cunt. She squealed with pleasure and kicked at the Abbe's legs with her heels. He let out a peal of laughter and sank to the floor, turning Georgette over on her stomach and pumping into her with his hardening shaft. He rode her like a satyr, his red face beaming, his large hands digging into her soft, pink flesh.
Lionel drew closer, his excitement unmistakable from the bulge prominent between his legs. The Abbe beckoned to him with a cavalier wave of his hand, and rose from Georgette's body. She jumped up and began to remove Lionel's clothing. The Abbe assisted her, and in a moment, the three of them were naked together. The Abbe put his arms around both of them, pulling Georgette's behind against his cock again, and pressing Lionel against her front. As the Abbe grew hard once more, he pushed Lionel to his knees, so that his mouth came against Georgette's cunt. The student responded with a flick of his tongue, and the Abbe, holding on to his shoulders, not touching Georgette with his hands, pushed into her hole. Georgette bucked under the driving thrust, and the three of them toppled to the floor. Georgette was on her stomach again, and the Abbe deep in her rectum. Lionel lay sprawled on his back, stunned by hitting his head on a chair arm. Georgette began to move towards him and the Abbe urged her on with tremendous thrusts, beating on her back, laughing and grunting. When she reached Lionel, she parted his thin legs, and moved her mouth up his thighs to his cock, which she took in her mouth, tonguing it expertly into a hard throbbing pole. Lionel gasped and looked up into the Abbe's puffy, red face over the top of Georgette's head. She, was bobbing up and down, her body crushed beneath the Abbe, her mouth filled with Lionel's cock. Suddenly the Abbe came with a shriek, and shot his come into her. Georgette continued sucking Lionel, unaware at first that the Abbe had instantly begun to finger her clitoris again. Lionel was moaning now, and heaving his slender body higher and higher, until he too, came, and Georgette took his seed deep in her throat.
The Abbe meanwhile, had replaced his fingers with his mouth, and by swiftly tonguing her, brought Georgette to a climax before she had completely recovered from swallowing Lionel's come. All three had climaxed now, but it was far from ended. Georgette turned on the floor and brought her cunt against Lionel's face, while the Abbe scurried around to get his cock in her mouth. A few moments of frantic thrusting, tonguing, and grabbing, and the three came again, almost simultaneously. Then they stood up. Both the Abbe and Lionel sodomized Georgette several times, and alternately caressed her clitoris with their tongues until all three sank to the floor fully satisfied and exhausted.
When Lionel and Georgette were taking their leave, they familiarized the Abbe with the founding of the Love Collective.
"Bravo!" said the priest. "I have never heard of such an intelligent enterprise before. What an excellent idea!"
"We may count on you, Abbe?"
"Well ... are you sure that your other members are going to accept me?"
"I think so, but we shall have to discuss it among ourselves first. We shall let you know in time."
"Fine! But the 10,000 francs membership fee creates a little problem for me. I won't be able to raise the money before another week...."
"No difficulty at all! I am willing to lend you the amount in the meantime."
"My dear Lionel, you are very kind, but I don't think it is necessary for you to do that. While you and your friends are going to discuss my possible joining, I'll be able to raise the amount!"
"Very well, I consider you already as one of our members!"
"I am honored! I repeat that you won't have to regret my joining you, all the less so as some of my beautiful penitents might be willing to follow my example."
"We would be pleased to receive them! It is hard to imagine what a wonderful new era is opening up for us...."
"Surely, but ... we must not forget prudence and caution, my young friends!"
"Don't worry, Abbe! We shall not risk losing our new paradise which will almost make us gods on earth ... Good bye!"
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
JULIETTE'S NEW ACQUISITION
The following day Georgette and Lionel tried to persuade Pierre Breton to accept the Abbe as a new member. Pierre, an important member of the staff, would have to agree to the idea. Georgette helped Pierre overcome his initial hesitation by demonstrating for him her play of the previous morning and after Pierre had enjoyed a wild anal coitus with the passionate girl, he was ready to vote for the Abbe's acceptance.
On the same day, Juliette had to take on her acquisition service for the second time. Marcel had not returned, but she was certain that he would reappear some day. This evening she came back to the apartment with a thin Englishman.
She was not very pleased with that bony, taciturn character who went about the act of love as if it were some scientific procedure.
"It's merely a matter of personal hygiene!" said the Englishman in his barbarous French.
Juliette winced and was glad when the man was out of the door. When he had left, she noticed that Marcel had been trying to see her in the afternoon and left his card for her. She merely shrugged and released Louis Assen-ac from his service as her accompanying protector and hurried to the apartment of Palmyre Rastegue where she met Prosper and Marie Rastegue, also Desire and Elmire Beausire.
"Imagine, my dear," said Palmyre addressing Juliette, "I have the honor to convey to you a regular proposal of marriage!"
"What? A marriage proposal? From whom?"
"Of course, not for you, but for your sister Paola. Prosper is head over heels in love with her and wants to enjoy her regularly ... which means marriage!"
Juliette frowned.
"I have nothing against such a marriage in principle, but since both Paola and Prosper are members of our Collective, they can perform the love act as much and as often they feel like it. Wouldn't it be better if both married other partners through which they could meet prospective new members for our group?" Prosper spoke up:
"No, my dear Juliette, I don't agree with you at all! I really love Paola and want to marry her! Such a union will not disturb our other obligations in any way."
"Well, have it your own way! But Paola will have to agree, too. Besides, my husband must be persuaded...."
"I know I can persuade him...."
"Well, if he agrees, I won't make any difficulties."
The rest of the evening was not wasted with much conversation. Everybody wanted to "train" for the coming events and Palmyre and Juliette announced that they would retire to some other room to enjoy their Lesbian love play, thus leaving Desire and Prosper in the company of Elmire and Marie.
Desire did not need any preparation to go right into action. He began to undress the willing Elmire and caressed her so ingeniously that she was sighing long before he penetrated her. His tongue found a spot behind her ear that caused her to catch her breath, and he worked the place over vigorously, occasionally allowing his tongue to slip into her ear, while his fingers covered her neck and breasts with small, circling movements. Her skin was very pale, but smooth, and her flesh firm. Her body glowed under a man's touch, and Desire could feel the heat rise and spread across her shoulders, her breasts, and down into her loins which she was thrusting against him. Her sighs deepened as his hands worked their way down her abdomen to the warm dark spot that was quivering with anticipation, and her tongue explored the depths of his mouth. There was no urgency to their lovemaking; only the desire to uncover and revel in every sensation that the union of their two bodies could create.
Desire withdrew from her for a moment, and undressed, letting his clothes fall at his feet. Elmire gasped at his physical perfection. It was as if a Greek statue had come to life. His body was firm, every muscle defined, his skin smooth and pale, the veins marking his thighs, arms, and heavy cock with their fine blue tracery. He stepped into her arms and she let herself be lowered to the floor. He raised himself above her to see once more the exquisite beauty of her fine body, and then let his body come to rest on top of her. Her arms closed around him and drew his lips to her breasts, which grew hard beneath the tiny licks of his tongue. Against her leg she felt his cock grow hard and begin to move with tiny, involuntary jerks. She spread her thighs to take his strength between them, and guiding him with her hand, placed his huge cock at the entrance of her cunt. Then with his head in her hands, she pushed up against him and he responded with a thrust that put him as far within her as he could go. She rested with him inside her for a moment, letting one hand stray to his balls, which she caressed softly. But the heat of their passion began to grow again, and Desire started a slow, steady, thrusting motion in and out of her. She met each thrust with one of her own, and suddenly Desire's body became like steel, a huge, perfect piston drilling in and out of her, accompanied by a great roar from deep inside his chest. This change in his apparent gentleness excited her, and her hands, dug deeper into his buttocks, her fingers probing at his rectum, and touching his balls. One finger entered him and she moved it gently as he groaned with excitement. His rhythm continued steady and even, and Elmire felt herself growing faint with the sensations that were sweeping her as his hands pulled and dug at her breasts. She locked her legs around his muscular thighs, and let him take her at his speed and rhythm. The thrusts came quicker and quicker, harder and harder, and suddenly she felt herself buckle under his weight as she came in a torrent against him. He was still pushing in her and the ecstasy was unbearable now, as suddenly with a tremendous cry he filled her cunt with his seed, his body jerking and tossing on top of her. Then he withdrew slowly, giving her even more pleasure in the act, and lay beside her exhausted.
The passionate embrace of those two encouraged Prosper to start caressing Marie who had to decide whether she should continue to let men take her as Ludovic had done, or permit Prosper to initiate her into full womanhood.
"You'll have to choose between the two entrances to paradise." she whispered to Prosper.
But her lover's cupid had already begun to approach the vaginal opening and she received it with a bitter-sweet feeling that accompanies the defloration of willing maids. Soon their movements quickened until they reached their joyful climax at the same time as the other couple.
When they had dressed and joined Palmyre and Juliette, they informed them of the success of the action.
"Fine!" said Palmyre, "Now Adrienne and the others can't complain any more about what they called the philistine prudishness of some of you. Every inhibition seems to have been conquered. Now I have a suggestion to make."
"Speak up, Palmyre!"
"I believe we all should spend a few days in the country to perfect everything that you have begun here."
Everybody agreed and they all left Palmyre's place in a mood of great expectations.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
MORE PREPARATORY TRAINING
As soon as Eliacin returned from his trip, Juliette told him of Prosper's intention to marry Paola. When Paola heard of it, she immediately stipulated that the wedding should become a symbol of the phalansteric objective of the Collective. The old-fashioned "kissing of the bride" by all male guests would have to be extended into more intimate contacts, and not only with the bride, but with all female members present.
Juliette suggested that the proposition be submitted to Paul Gerando as the head of the Love Collective. Eliacin agreed and they went to the place of the Gerandos right away where Paul entertained several members at lunch.
They were: Ernest Deiron, Theodore and Lina Castex, Etienne and Leonie Duport.
The visitors were received with great glee and Eliacin asked Bertha teasingly:
"I suppose you don't like your weekly service, hm?"
"Well, judge for yourself. For instance, tonight I have three lovers on my list and they insist on my taking them on, all three of them, but I don't want more than one. And now they are arguing among each other to get priority." Eliacin smiled.
"I feel like adding myself to the list!"
"Why, did you come to ask for my services?"
"It may seem impolite to deny it, but I have to admit that some serious business has caused my visit."
"That's good, because I am somewhat tired, but I wouldn't have refused you."
"Please, don't lead me into temptation!"
"All right, all right! Now what is the real reason for your coming here?"
"It concerns our Collective."
"Something special?"
"Yes, Paola is about to marry...."
"What? Whom does she want to marry?"
"It's not she who started it, it is rather Prosper who insists on marrying her!"
Gerando nodded and said:
"Well, that is quite all right. We have not yet had enough preparatory training to get used to the rules of our Collective to search for strangers to become lovers of our women. Prosper is welcome! There is nothing that speaks against such a marriage!"
"Well, my dear Gerando, this makes it easier for me to tell you of Paola's idea. She doesn't want the wedding to be the traditional private ceremony, but wants to extend it to a regular orgy so that we all have the chance to lose our old inhibitions imposed by our hypocritical civilization."
Everybody applauded and now Eliacin played his trump card.
"I am glad you receive the plan so enthusiastically, my friends, but I want to see whether you are willing to exchange theory for practice."
They all looked at him, perplexed.
"Now, now...." continued Eliacin, "you were in such an exuberant mood when I arrived. Show me that you are willing to undertake this preparatory training! And not only you, gentlemen, but also you, ladies! And I would like the ladies to begin and stop being so ... well ... so platonic. I request that all you ladies show us your behind!"
The men exclaimed:
"Ah, Sizac is a genius ... Yes, ladies! Let's see what you can do!"
Bertha Gerando seemed angry and said to Paul:
"How can you agree to such a thing?"
"Why not? Eliacin is right! Bolt all the doors so that the servants can't surprise us!"
Caroline wanted quickly to dash out of the room, but Gerando held her back.
"Caroline, you must obey! It doesn't do any good to be a theorist! Show that you mean what you always said."
The four women quickly looked at each other and then, very bravely, lifted their skirts and bared their behinds which were all different and yet well-formed and covered with a silky skin.
The men clapped their hands and complimented the ladies on their courage and the beauty of their rear anatomy.
"Thanks, ladies," said Eliacin. "And now it seems to me is the best time to decide in what manner the wedding should be celebrated. I hope that each member of the Collective will turn up with an original suggestion."
"But why don't we invite all of them to come here," said Bertha, "and hold a regular meeting?"
"Excellent idea!" echoed Leonie.
"And for what day shall we convoke the meeting?" asked Gerando.
"As soon as possible!"
"Well, what about next Tuesday?"
"Fine! Next Tuesday!" everybody agreed. "Eliacin will send out the invitations," said Gerando, and broke up the present meeting.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
END OF THE FIRST WEEK
On Saturday, Juliette Sizac said good-bye to Marcel, informing him that she had to return to her small town and her husband. She had succeeded in capturing that elderly lover and was moved when she noticed that her impending departure made him quite sad. She kissed him very tenderly and promised to write him and also to try to repeat her Parisian visit as soon as possible.
Marcel, who still believed that Juliette was really a middle-class woman from the province, decided to show how generous he could be. He gave Juliette a costly necklace and a thousand franc note. They parted on very affectionate terms.
As soon as Marcel had left, Juliette returned to her own home and, after a hot bath, went straight to bed. She wanted to be rested for the first Sunday meeting of the Collective.
Bertha Gerando, on her part, had also finished her first week with great success and given pleasure to several of her male visitors who decided to repeat their visits in the future as often as possible.
All members of the Collective were looking forward to the Sunday meeting, the men with great hopes for unbridled pleasures, and the women with a certain mixture of sensuality and hesitation. It would be interesting to see how human nature asserted itself when freed from the shackles of a narrow tradition.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE GENERAL MEETING
On Sunday afternoon, all members of the Love Collective were attending the first general meeting in a charming villa in St. Clouds that had been rented for the purpose.
No servants were present, in order to avoid any kind of embarrassment during the proceedings. It had been decided that whatever was needed, like the preparing and serving of refreshments, should be performed by members in rotation, every month.
After an introductory speech by Paul Gerando, Leonie addressed the assembly:
"The tradition of the Occident lacks the wisdom of Oriental civilizations. We are supposed to follow the laws of Christianity which forbids both polygamy and polyandry. And what is the result? That we have been excluded from a full enjoyment of our sensual faculties. What kind of sense enjoyment can a man experience if he is permitted to possess only one woman, and what can a woman understand of love if she has to put up with the embraces of one and the same man. What wonder that the so-called respectable husbands take mistresses, while their bored wives acquire lovers? Physical love becomes stale without the stimulation of change.
"And, apart from that, why should the love act be performed in secrecy as if it were something shameful? We hear of other civilizations where sense pleasures are enjoyed in public during regular love feasts. And why have we been taught that nudity is disgraceful? All of us here are young women and men. Why hide our bodies?
"It is sad that our hypocritical society forces us to found this Love Collective so that we can save ourselves from the perverse public ideas of what is moral and what immoral.
"Therefore, my friends, let us free ourselves from old, unnatural customs, and enjoy our bodies as the pagan peoples. Each one of us has given a solemn promise to protect our Collective from all outside snooping and that we shall admit only such newcomers who have been tested by at least six of our members of either sex. But before we can afford to introduce many outsiders, we must be completely sure of ourselves and our erotic skills.
"And now, friends, let us start with whatever Paul wants us to do!"
Leonie's address was received with lively applause and men and women alike admired her provocative beauty which was all the more offset by her majestic poise and her noticeable will power.
Next, all women were asked to draw lots for the elevated position of the Queen of Love. It was Palmyre Rastegue who was elected. Paul Gerando demanded that all male members in the audience should pay homage to the Queen by kneeling between her opened legs and tongue-kissing her rosy grotto. The men obeyed, first hesitatingly, but becoming more and more zealous when Palmyre's sighs of joy were quite audible.
Soon the other women demanded similar attentions and after a while everyone was involved with everybody else. The more physical pleasure was experienced the less inhibited the members of the Collective became. And before the time for dinner had arrived, everybody was undressed, and interlaced bodies were lying around on sofas, cushions and on the thick carpet, all sacrificing to Priapus and Venus. The joys of Greece and Sodom were tried by men and women among ever increasing moans of lustful joy.
Jacques Nassau and Palmyre Rastegue lay on one of the plush couches. He had sunk his cock deep within her and their bodies were movjng as if under water with a ceaseless undulation accompanied by their mutual groans and sighs. Paul Gerando was mounting her from behind and before the three of them sought new partners, they had climaxed and then reversed their positions, still almost as a single body. The room was filled with deep-throated sounds as couples reached their orgasms and then parted.
Etienne Duport and Charles Vautrin were standing with Juliette Sizac between them, their arms locked tightly in an embrace that pressed one against the other. Etienne had entered her from the front, and Charles from behind, and occasionally her feet left the floor with the tremendous thrusting of their cocks, both deeply imbedded in her body. The two men had locked arms around each other, so that Juliette seemed suspended between them. Their white bodies flashed in the dim light and then sank to the floor in slow motion as the three reached a tremendous climax. Juliette lay on the floor, her cunt still pouring out its flow, when Prosper moved over her and devoured it, thrusting his cock into her mouth at the same time.
Paul Gerando and Leonie Duport were on another sofa. Leonie was lying back, her arms over her head with her partner facing her sitting up, his huge cock between her breasts, his hands pressing them together against his shaft. Leonie moved her hands softly up and down his thick, muscular thighs, curling over his balls, caressing and squeezing them. Paul's excitement grew and he began to thrust vigor ously against her. He lay back suddenly, still on top of her, and she took his balls completely in her mouth. Her hands were now digging into the flesh of his thighs, jerking involuntarily with the force of his spending passion, when, with a great cry, he came, and shot his seed high into the air. The force of his climax threw him off her and onto the floor, where he lay sweating and panting. Lina Castex, watching with growing desire, moved to his exhausted body and began with her skillful fingers and lips, to work him into another erection. In a few minutes, his body was pumping into her where he lay, and their cries rose to mingle with the others in the room.
Desire Beausire lay on a heap of pillows, his white, naked body arched back, the muscles of his neck, chest and arms, straining incredibly. Small cries escaped from his clenched lips as Marie Rastegue nibbled with the edges of her teeth and lips at his hardened cock. His thighs were thrust far apart, and moving vigorously, first closing then opening, their huge muscles tensed to the bursting point. Between them Marie's head bobbed up and down, her fingers moving artfully from his balls to his rectum and back again, thrusting deeper into his rear with each return trip. Her head would pause and she would raise herself enough to look into his passion-torn face, then she would begin again. The others stopped to watch; the combined beauty of their bodies was an unbelievable sight. Every man in the room could feel the burning thrust of her tongue on his cock; each wondered if he would be the next. Then, with a tremendous sob, Desire thrust his entire body in the air and shot his seed into Marie's mouth. She choked and swallowed for what seemed an eternity, gasping at the extent of his orgasm, then released his cock and watched as it fell limply against his leg.
Before she could catch her breath, Ernest Deiron had shoved his cock into her mouth and pulled her to the floor, already lost in his passion. Charles Vautrin descended on her from behind and entered her at the same time. Juliette Sizac had moved to the place at Desire's groin vacated by Marie, and his limp cock was again coming to life in her mouth. His cries were delirious now, mingling with the rest in the room, as they rose to a crescendo of screams, moans and sobs. The room whirled with moving, pulsating flesh, and the walls seemed to burst apart with the spent passions. Wherever a body would pause, or rest, another would join it and begin again. Kneeling, sitting, lying, no one was in repose; all were tossed endlessly in a surging sea of lust and joy.
It was after midnight when the orgy broke up and the tired but contented pairs of lovers returned to Paris in their carriages that had waited for them in the nearby village.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ADRIENNE HAS CHANGED
Monday noon, Adrienne returned with her brother, Ludovic, from their sojourn in the South where they had indulged in their incestuous interlude until they were both too exhausted to continue.
They created great astonishment when they appeared unannounced at the home of Adrienne's husband, Desire, who was just having lunch in the company of his sister, Elmire, and his sister-in-law, Marie. He looked reproachfully at his wife and said:
"Why the devil did you not inform us that you were coming back...."
"Well ... I am here now!"
"So I see, but I thought you would stay away at least two months ... as you let us believe...."
"What's the matter?" Adrienne began to show anger. "Am I disturbing you perhaps by my presence?"
"I don't see how you could ever disturb me, or how I could disturb you...? We have an understanding as members of the Collective not to create any difficulties for each other. Or have you forgotten?"
Adrienne remained silent and let herself be embraced by Elmire who showed distinct signs of embarrassment, while Marie couldn't bring herself to make any gesture of welcome at all. When Adrienne had gone upstairs to her boudoir, Marie followed her and asked:
"Really, Adrienne, what is the idea of returning in this sudden manner?"
"I admit, I could have written a note to give you some warning, but I assure you I was not prepared for such a cold reception."
"I am sorry, but it is your own fault!"
"Why? Merely because I haven't written?"
"Not only that, but it was your personal wish that your husband should get used to my company. Well ... he did! And I have got used to him, too...."
"I'm pleased to hear that." Adrienne said sarcastically. "And now, of course, you seem to hesitate to permit him to get used to his own wife again. Is that it?"
"Frankly ... yes!"
"You know, Marie, a young girl like you should have more inhibitions."
"A young girl ... yes! But you seem to be ignorant of the fact that I was not exactly a young girl any more when you married Desire...."
Adrienne became pale.
"Marie! What are you saying?"
"You have no reason to play the prude, Adrienne! Since we are going to be faithful members of the phalanstric Collective, we must try not to relapse into any old-fashioned possessiveness!"
"Do you mean to say that I am creating any difficulties for my husband?"
"Definitely! By your sudden return...."
"This is really the limit! You expect me to leave again for another trip...?"
"I didn't say that, but I would like you to let me spend two or three more nights with Desire."
"In other words, you two don't want to let go of each other?"
"Frankly, no! And why didn't you bring Ludovic with you?"
"Was I supposed to? I must say it is really nice of you to miss the presence of your brother...."
"Don't tell me he is ill...."
"Thank God, no! But when we arrived at the Depot and were about to leave the train, he was recognized by a friend and had to leave me."
"I see, but if he comes here tonight nobody will be here to receive him."
"He knows that! He had intended to come here with me, but as I told you, he had to join his friend in order not to give me away."
"You've said that before...."
Adrienne's face flushed an angry red.
"Now will you at least tell me what kind of position I am going to occupy in my own home during the next three days?"
"Well, of course, you are the lady of the house."
"Yes, but only if I let you have my husband for a few more nights."
"Is that so difficult?"
"Oh, I know Desire! If he had not become so dependent on you, he would not have sent you after me to arrange things to his taste! It always takes him some time to change his mind about women."
"Adrienne, do you realize that you are making a regular scene out of mere jealousy? What sort of strange specimen of our Collective are you?"
Adrienne bit her lips and said:
"All right! Now, what do you expect of me?"
"I promise you that Desire and I don't want any more than three more nights together." Adrienne merely nodded and went downstairs to join the others. When Desire noticed her angry expression he asked:
"Are you angry with us?"
"I'm going to answer that question in a few days...."
Marie was coming down the steps now and Desire called out:
"There you are, Marie! Adrienne is angry with us!"
The others were amazed to see Adrienne's reaction and Elmire sat down at the piano after asking Desire to show off his beautiful baritone in a few songs. Adrienne tried to control herself, but she was honest enough with herself to realize that she did not like the situation at all. While apparently listening to the music she was having a silent dialogue with herself:
"Why, for heaven's sake, am I angry? Haven't I agreed to all the rules of our Collective? Didn't I go off with Ludovic to have a stormy incestuous affair with him, being clearly unfaithful to my husband? And now I resent Marie's having an affair with him? Why?"
Marie had joined Desire's voice with her own vibrant contralto, but Adrienne did not pay any attention. She continued to question herself:
"I refuse to believe that my natural instinct revolts against all this promiscuity! And yet-why am I so possessive? Is it natural to want to retain the male one likes most? If that is the case then our Collective is something artificial and we are all trying to pretend that we can't be jealous. I wish I could find the answer to all this!"
When the music stopped, Adrienne announced that she was dead tired and wished to retire. Desire gallantly accompanied her to her bedroom as he usually did when he wanted to spend the night with her, but this time he kissed her hand and wished her a courteous good night. He turned around and hurried to Marie's bedroom where she was already expecting him.
Marie waited Expectantly for Desire to come to her. She thought of the white perfection of his body, and the obvious jealousy of Adrienne determined her to possess him. He entered the room and lay beside her. He seemed tired. Marie kissed him on the eyes and felt the warmth of his breath against her face as he sighed deeply. She began to unbutton his shirt, revealing the hard planes of his muscular torso. When his shirt was off, she pressed herself against him, letting her soft, beautiful breasts burn slowly into him. Her fingers wandered over his stomach, tracing the ridges, following them down to his groin. She unbuttoned his trousers and he slipped from them, turning over to pull her body next to his and press its soft, yielding length against him. She let his fingers move slowly, surely up her warm thighs to her cunt, and parted her legs slightly so that he could touch her as deeply as he wished. She sighed as his fingers went into her, moving against her clitoris, then out of her and up her body. Her own hands began to curl around his cock and move up and down along it, feeling it harden and throb beneath her silken touch. She let her tongue trail wetly along his thick thighs, over his balls, and up his cock to the head. He uttered a small cry and pushed her on her back. Then arching above her, he looked directly into her shining eyes and plunged slowly, hotly, surely into her. His cock slid in effortlessly as far as it would go. She moaned and lay back on the bed, giving herself completely in to him. Her hands fluttered along the rigid muscles of his broad back and moved across his chest. He thrust once, and she arched to meet him, pulling his entire weight down upon her. The colors of the room blurred, the walls became vague, shimmering, surfaces, and she closed her eyes to feel the full length of him far up in her-and nothing else. After a moment he pulled up, almost to the point of withdrawal, then plunged to the hilt again, slowly. He raised his torso up on his thick arms and looked down at her, withdrawing himself nearly all the way, and waited. His entire body was one rigid plane, connected to her cunt by the tip of his cock alone, every muscle rigid and hard.
"Marie!" He whispered. She opened her eyes and ran her hands over his arms and shoulders. His skin was hot and smooth. She locked her arms around his back and thrust up, joining his body, arched above the bed. Then he relaxed and plunged with her into the depths of the mattress, pinning her to it, and she uttered a deep, low cry. The entire act proceeded at slow motion for several minutes in this fashion. She sucked at his lips with her mouth, and moved beneath him to tongue the muscles of his chest, and lick the flat nipples. Both their tongues met again, then parted, his to find the hard, bursting tips of her breasts, hers to caress every inch of his body.
Then a great wave of heat consumed him and he began to drive into her harder and harder. Her fingers felt down to the great shaft pumping in and out of her, and then moved to the balls slapping against her bottom. She squeezed them softly, rhythmically, keeping time with his thrusts until he gave a tremendous thrust, his whole body quivering like a taut arrow string, and exploded within her. At the same moment, she felt her own climax approaching and helped by thrusting to meet his orgasm. His seed flowed into her and her liquid spilled out onto his thighs.
They remained locked thus for several minutes, and then Desire withdrew, giving a deep sigh as his cock emerged from Marie's cunt. But Marie moved on, her hands seeking his rectum now, searching for new points of arousal.
Desire noticed Marie's exceptional excitement and responded with more than his usual vigor. Sensing Marie's mood, he possessed her in a multitude of various positions, anal and otherwise, without any protest from the girl, who abandoned herself to a frenzy of lust that she had not known before with any partner.
In the intervals between their embraces both realized that it would displease them enormously to have to give each other up after three more nights, but they were ashamed to admit it in so many words. After all, such a reaction would be a crass violation of the statutes of the Collective, and they could not permit any breach of the rules, at least not openly.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
THE FAILURE OF THE LOVE COLLECTIVE
After Desire had left Adrienne alone in her bedroom, she knew she would not be able to sleep in the angry mood she was in.
Far from admitting to herself that her jealousy was real and that she had expected to enjoy the embraces of her husband, she tried to rationalize her mood by telling herself that she missed Ludovic's tremendous sexual prowess and that everything would be all right if he were with her now. Ludovic, or ... or....
"Do I merely want a strong male?" she asked herself, unable to calm down.
Suddenly she felt her anger with Marie in crease to the extent that she felt like slapping the girl's face.
"What's happening to me?" 'she asked herself again. "I am becoming unreasonable! But I want to have this thing out with Marie, once and for all. Also with Desire! There is no time like the present. I am going to face them right now! Otherwise I'll not be able to find some rest tonight . .
She covered her nude body with a light robe and left her room trying to reach the door to Marie's bedroom in the dark. When she could touch the doorknob she suddenly felt a strong hand grip her arm. Somewhat startled, she turned around but could not recognize the person in the darkness.
The hand kept holding her. Who was this? Hesitantly she stretched out her other hand and touched the nude, hairy chest of a male. She could not very well start yelling like a frightened bourgeois woman who was afraid of nude male bodies. She decided to let that hand pull her downstairs to the dark salon where she felt herself being pushed backward until she came to rest on the carpet.
The strong hand compelled her to move down the hairy body until she could feel the stiffness of an enormous cock that was impatiently twitching under her trembling fingers. Who was trying to rape her? She found it best to keep silent and go through with whatever might happen. As a matter-of-fact, she realized that she was sexually excited and wanted to feel that gigantic penis penetrate her, no matter how it might hurt her.
The man had gently stretched out on top of her, but when he inserted his priapus into her, he stopped being gentle and became animated like a beast in the rutting season. She suppressed a cry of pain when she felt herself pierced, but as soon as the man covered her face, throat and breasts with his kisses and bites and moved wildly in her, she felt herself falling into an abyss of pure lust as she had never experienced before, either with men or women.
Who is this man? But soon the shudders of her repeated orgasms drowned out her thoughts and she did not notice that her powerful lover had inundated her with several spurts of his semen without slowing down once. At long last he stopped and rested his muscular, steel-like body on her soft flesh. She sighed and whispered Marie's name.
"Ah, Marie!" muttered the man near her ear. "Marie enjoyed my embrace just like you...."
"Who are you?"
"Robert!"
"Robert?"
Adrienne wriggled loose under the weight of the man and ran upstairs to her room and bolted the door.
Robert! He was the gardener, a young, handsome peasant boy from the South. Imagine, being raped by her own gardener. But she felt pleasantly tired and strangely elated. That was a kind of sex that she had always hoped to know and now her wish had been fulfilled in the most unexpected manner. She fell asleep with a happy smile on her relaxed face.
Next morning, at breakfast, Desire noticed his wife's peculiar aloofness and thought it was the reaction to his continued affair with Marie. His conscience began to bother him and he pulled Adrienne into a corner so that the others could not hear him.
"I am going to come to you tonight, my dear. After all, you have a legitimate right to me."
To his utter amazement she answered in a distracted way:
"No, no! Why should you renounce your pleasure! Go ahead and enjoy yourself with Marie as you intended."
Desire was speechless for a moment, then he stammered:
"What has come over you? I love you as I have always loved you; no matter that I found Marie to be a good bed partner."
"That's quite all right, Desire! I am not angry any more, and I want you two to have as much fun with each other as you desire!" Before Desire had recovered from Adrienne's response, she had got hold of Marie's hand and asked her to follow her upstairs to her room. When the door was safely shut, she turned to the girl.
"Marie, is there nothing special you want to tell me?"
"I? What in the world should I want to tell you?"
"Just try to think for a minute ... Isn't there anything that has happened to you lately? Some strange adventure, perhaps? Here, at night?"
"An adventure?"
Marie's voice seemed to falter.
"Yes, a very unusual adventure! Now listen, Marie, you know that you can afford to tell me anything! I won't give you away!"
Marie tried to hedge.
"I wish you would not be so mysterious, Adrienne. I really don't know what you are driving at."
"All right! If you want to be secretive, you fool, have your own way! Get out of my room!"
"But, Adrienne!"
"Get out, I said!"
"But why ... I...."
"I'm going to take a walk in the garden...."
"Let me come with you."
"No, I want to be alone!"
Adrienne's voice sounded so harsh that Marie thought it advisable not to insist. She left the room in great bewilderment.
Adrienne did not see her or Desire when she walked down the steps and left the house by the back door. The huge garden was more like a regular park. The tall trees and the beautiful flower beds offered anybody who walked down the narrow paths the calm and peaceful mood that one finds in a remote forest.
Adrienne enjoyed the shade of the trees and the scent of the roses and walked a short distance until she had reached the orchard where an olive-skinned young man with a bare torso was stooped over some tomato plant, trying to support it with a stick. It was Robert, the gardener. When he noticed Adrienne, he waved his hand politely.
"Good morning, Madame! I am glad you have returned from your trip...."
"Come here!" commanded Adrienne abruptly "Here I am! What can I do for Madame?" She examined his tall muscular body that was glistening with perspiration, his dark curly hair, his blue eyes that watched her curiously, and she admitted to herself that he was indeed one of the most desirable males she had ever encountered.
"Well, Robert, what have you got to say for yourself?"
"I don't know what Madame means."
"Why do you call me Madame after last night?"
An almost imperceptible smile flitted over his face when he said:
"During the day, you are Madame! After all, I know my place!"
"Oh, you do, eh? And what is your place at night?"
"If Madame will forgive me, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen . .
"Don't try to use flattery on me, Robert! If I am so beautiful why did you surprise Marie the way you surprised me, last night? You said that you did it to Marie, didn't you?"
Robert seemed embarrassed and lowered his eyes.
"Well ... Madame must understand that a strong and healthy man like myself can't resist temptation when he sees so many ladies and gentlemen do it with each other."
He faltered when he saw that Adrienne had become quite pale.
"Where ... where did you see this?"
"Oh, while Madame was away ... at night when I climbed up the trellis and looked through the windows of several bedrooms." Adrienne felt her knees becoming weak. She felt the supporting arms of Robert around her shoulders.
"Why doesn't Madame sit down here on the bench and rest?"
He led her to the bench under a walnut tree and squatted down in front of her. Adrienne slowly recovered her poise and gently touched Robert's chin.
"You climbed up on the trellis? Is that how you got into the house, last night and...."
"Yes, Madame ... that is how I found you and could at last pay tribute to your great beauty...."
Adrienne smiled.
"Where did you learn to pay such gallant compliments, Robert?"
"In Marseilles, where I come from, one knows how to talk to beautiful ladies. We are not so clumsy as you Parisians might think...."
"Well, you certainly were not clumsy last night ... although pretty wild...."
Robert smiled now quite openly.
"We in the South are very hot-blooded, Madame. Did I displease you?"
"On the countrary...."
Adrienne thought for a minute while the man waited politely. Suddenly she arrived at some conclusion and got up from the bench. Caressing Robert's cheek, she said:
"No, Robert, you did not displease me at all. And I think I prefer men from the South to our effete Parisians. I'll expect you again tonight, in my room, this time. And here is the key to the house. You don't have to climb up the trellis any more."
Robert took the key and pressing a long kiss on Adrienne's offered hand, he said:
"I'm obeying Madame's orders ... And I am looking forward to tonight."
"So am I, you rascal!" said Adrienne, slapping playfully his suntanned cheek, before she turned and walked back to the house.
She had some food brought up to her room and sent word to Desire and the others that she felt very tired and exhausted and wanted to rest. When Desire appeared quite concerned, she said:
"It is nothing to get alarmed at, my friend. After all, Ludovic is a powerful lover and I did not realize that the reaction of so much love-making would make its appearance as soon as I had returned."
Desire did not quite know whether she told him that to retaliate for his hanging on to Marie, or whether it was a harmless explanation of her condition. But it seemed logical and he accepted it without any further argument.
As soon as Adrienne was alone, she began to pack two suitcases, stowing away enough lingerie and dresses to last her for some time and, above all, her jewelry box that contained precious stones worth a veritable fortune. She also put fifty thousand francs in paper money in her purse and then lay down on her bed in order to be fresh and relaxed for the coming night.
After 11 p.m. when everything was quiet in the house, she heard the door of her bedroom open and there was Robert who immediately pressed her into his strong arms that closed over her waist like a vise.
"Wait ... wait!" she whispered, "and listen to me very carefully, Robert! We are going to have our pleasure, but you must first listen to what I have planned ... for both of us...." He quickly undressed and sat down on the bed putting his arms around her.
"No, Robert, not yet. When I feel your body I can't think. And I want you to understand every word I am saying!"
"Yes, Madame!"
"Don't be stupid! You may call me by my first name."
"Yes, ... Adrienne," he said hesitantly.
"Now, this is what I want you to understand. I am fed up with what you have noticed when you looked through the bedroom windows. It is true that I like to enjoy the embrace of more than one male, but I discovered that one handsome and strong male is able to replace ten others. And you, Robert, are such a rare specimen!"
He wanted to press her into his arms, but she pushed him away.
"No, not now! I told you to listen carefully! Tomorrow, around noon, you will pack all your belongings and go to the depot of the Gare du Sud where I'll expect you. We are going to the Riviera and stay there as long as it pleases us ... do you understand? You will be my guest and my lover and I'll be your mistress in every respect...."
"And what if you become tired of me?"
Adrienne suppressed her laughter.
"Tired of you?" Yes, I believe when I am an old woman and can't enjoy making love any more ... Then I may get tired of you!"
Robert pushed her back on the bed and climbed on top of her.
"Wait, Robert, wait ... Have you understood everything I told you?"
He closed her mouth with his lips and then whispered:
"How could I fail to understand such a wonderful message? I'll expect you at the Gare du Sud, tomorrow, at noon. But ... what is your husband going to say?"
"Leave that to me! I'll write him a letter which he will understand, although it will not make him feel very proud ... But now, Robert, make me forget my husband and everything else except you and me ... Robert swept her into his thick arms and crushed her against the bed. His body was white-hot beneath the dark brown skin, and his lips were almost feverish as they devoured her breasts, thighs, and soft abdomen. He sought and found her clitoris, and with both his tongue and his fingers, he worked her to the bursting point. She had never before felt such force, even with Ludovic. Robert's body was rock-hard, warm with only a heat that the sun can give; every muscle was strained and expert. It was the perfect machine for pleasure, such as the Love Collective had never known. She looked up into his dark eyes, so black they burned, and felt the shadow of heavy beard on his smooth cheek with her fingers.
His hands responded to her look, with gentle pressure against her breasts, alternating with his rough tongue. The smell of his sweat, undisguised by cologne, rose from him now, and aroused her even further. He moved off her for a moment and lay beside her. She rose and covered him with her body. Her eyes devoured the coarse, curly hair that swirled across his chest and stomach, and she plunged her lips into it. Her hands found the heavy columns of his thighs and she caressed him there at the same time, moving slowly, surely to his cock. Suddenly she held it in her hand, the largest she had ever known, and the thickest. She ached to have it within her, and almost as if in response to her unspoken wish, he swept her on her back and plunged it to the hilt into her cunt. Without pausing he began to drive furiously within her and in a few minutes burst in a great hot jet, far in her body. But he did not stop the steady driving thrust, and Adrienne could hardly believe what she was feeling. His cock grew within her, and she sobbed in ecstasy as her first orgasm swept her, tossing her body against his. She sank her teeth in the bulging muscle of his arm, and the pain drove him once more to come within her, in a thick, hot stream that scorched her insides.
He withdrew momentarily, and lay back, gasping for air. Adrienne looked at him with lust in her eyes, and began to lick his body once more, reaching his cock with her tongue and spurring it to hardness. In a few moments it was reached, and she lowered her body swiftly upon his spear, to feel it pierce up into her as far as she could push it. He thrust too, and seemed to break the tender membranes in her body all the way to her head. She screamed in ecstasy and pushed again, feeling the incredible strength of his body once more encompass her and carry her in the incredible rhythms of his driving thrusts. He was sobbing now; great, loud gasps coming from his throat, his head pressed far back into the pillows, his brown body gleaming under its covering of pungent sweat. She pressed her breasts against him harder, feeling the sweat-matted hair on his chest grind against the nipples, driving her to a new peak of pain and pleasure. She licked the sweat off his chest and its salty tang caused her to cry out in joy. His whole body was centered in his gigantic, throbbing cock, imbedded in her devouring cunt, shoving them both high into the air with each new thrust.
He discharged into her five times without ever decreasing his thrusts and Adrienne was about to faint. It was the acme of sensual pleasure; it was unalloyed bliss.
After resting for an hour, Robert renewed his attacks and both carried on until the beginning dawn forced Adrienne to put a stop to their embraces.
"You must go now, Robert, or else I won't be strong enough to leave the house at noon to meet you. Try to sleep, too, my love!"
Robert took leave of her after covering her mouth and her body with burning kisses, and as soon as Adrienne heard the door close after him, she sank in the most profound sleep she had ever enjoyed.
She stayed in her room until noon when she dressed and ordered the carriage to wait at the main gate where the butler had carried her suitcases. She handed him a letters and said:
"Give this letter to my husband when he and the ladies return from their trip to the country...."
And turning to the coachman, she ordered:
"Drive me to the Gare du Sud. I have to make the 2 o'clock train!"
The carriage started moving and she settled in the cushions on the seat without turning to glance back at her house and park.
When Desire and his guests returned in the early afternoon the butler handed him Adrienne's letter which he opened and read:
"My dear Desire, "You may let all the others read this letter because I believe they ought to know why I act as I do. During my sojourn with Ludovic, it became clear to me that our Love Collective was based on faulty reasoning. First of all, it is not true that having sexual intercourse in a group heightens the pleasure of the partners; not if they are really desiring each other and satisfying each other as they could not do with any different partners.
"Second, I don't believe that a woman has to change her partners all the time if she happens to meet a lover who makes her swoon every time he puts his arm around her and penetrates her not only with the virility of his body, but with his whole being. In other words, if he is the ideal male and mate. The males I have enjoyed so far are very nice men and quite enjoyable in bed, but they could never replace the divine raptures that Robert-whom I have taken with me-is able to give me without ever tiring.
"I don't want you to feel slighted in any way, my dear Desire. I merely want you to understand that your momentary weakness for Marie is a good example of what I feel for Robert, only that my feelings for him are ten times as strong as yours for that girl.
"If a woman finds what I have found in Robert, she will try to keep it as long as possible. You and the whole Collective may continue to believe and practice what they want, but stark reality has convinced me that our occidental tradition is still too strong in our blood to let us enjoy sexual anarchy, which is what the Collective amounts to.
"I firmly believe that promiscuity for both men and women is caused only by imperfect sex partners. I don't mean to say that monogamy is the necessary alternative to promiscuity. But a personal sexual relationship can last through many years if the partners concerned reach the highest fulfillment.
"You will hear from me from time to time and you can always write me and address your letters to the Post Office in Nice, General Delivery. Give my regards to our friends and tell them that I understand their attitude as thoroughly as I hope they will understand mine.
"Always yours, Adrienne."
When Desire read his wife's letter to the assembled members of the Collective at the next Sunday meeting, they received the content with a surprising silence.
After another four weeks, Paul Gerando had to report that most of the members failed to report their sexual adventures and also missed their usual gatherings. He suspected, he said, that they still indulged in all sorts of pleasure, but that somehow or other they wanted to protect their privacy.
Thus occurred the failure of an erotic Utopia that had begun with high hopes of everybody, and which collapsed when one healthy woman decided to keep the strongest and most desirable male that had accidentally crossed her way. Sexual love does not seem to thrive when pressed into the limits of an organization.
APPENDIX
CONCLUSION OF AN AGREEMENT
The following persons have agreed to join in a collective group according to the doctrines of our great philosopher and sociologist:
F.M. Charles Fourier (1772-1837), on the strength of which everything, like families, husbands and wives, children and money, becomes the common property of the group:
1. Paul Gerando, age 30; his wife, Bertha, nee Leydier, age 27; his sister-in-law, Elise Leydier, age 20; and
2. Louis Assenac, age 25; his wife, Caroline, nee Lissan, age 22; and
3. Etienne Duport, age 28; his wife, Leonie, nee Vautrin, age 30; his sister-in-law, Lucie Vautrin, age 17; his brother-in-law, Charles Vautrin, age 22; and
4. Pierre Breton, age 33; his wife, Julie, nee Rodier, age 19; and
5. Eliacin Sizac, age 25; his wife, Juliette, nee Raymond, age 21; his sister-in-law, Paola Raymond, age 18; and
6. Theodore Castex, age 27; his wife, Lina, nee Deiron, age 20; his brother-in-law, Ernest Del-ron, age 26; and
7. Jacques Nassau, age 31; his wife, Mathilde, nee Pellen, age 26; his two sisters-in-law, Madeleine Pelle, age 26; and Clara Pelle, age 17; and
8. Ludovic Rastegue, age 34; his wife, Palmyre, nee Vautrin, age 24; (the latter being the sister of Leonie, Lucie and Charles Vautrin); his brother, Dr. Prosper Rastegue, age 30; his sister, Marie Rastegue, age 19; and
9. Desire Beausire, age 29; his wife, Adrienne, nee Rastegue, age 23; (the latter being the sis ter of Ludovic Rastegue, etc.) his brother, Armand Beausire, age 20; his sister, Elmire Beausire, age 18; and
10. Lionel Sifferland, age 24; his wife, There-sita, nee Caprina, age 19; his sister-in-law, Georgette Caprina, age 16.
The abovementioned have reached the agreement to form this Collective according to the following MOTIVES and STATUTES:
MOTIVES
1. Whereas human nature can attain to the utmost happiness only in a state of complete liberty concerning love, associations with all kinds of people of various temperaments, characters and inclinations;
2. whereas the strict limitations of married life prevent the normal and undisturbed growth of the individual toward the fullest expression of his capacity for love and happiness and equally stunts the development of an enjoyable social life, free from envy, jealousy and hatred;
3. whereas private property, as shown throughout history, has induced families and whole communities to indulge in bitter quarrels and enmities, and has encouraged selfishness, greed and avarice to the extent of lowering the human race to subhuman levels;
4. whereas man and woman were created for the sake of uniting in physical and emotional love, for the sake of discovering each other's beauty in the act of love, and thus reaching complete understanding which is the basis of all cultural life;
5. whereas said harmony and understanding can exist only within a collective group sharing everything in love, physical and otherwise;
6. whereas these ideals can be realized only in collective groups as described by F.M. Charles Fourier, groups which he called phalansteries, and which may be founded among members of one or several families; the above-named persons have agreed on a social contract according to which the male and female members of the group may enjoy the act of love among one another in complete freedom from all restrictions. For that reason, the following statutes have been agreed upon:
STATUTES
1. Each household continues to exist as it existed before as far as the law of the country is concerned.
2. Each married woman obligates herself to stay at home twice a week in order to receive any of the male contract members who wishes to unite with her in the love act.
3. One male member of each family will be chosen to accompany that married woman on every evening whenever she wishes to visit with somebody.
4. The above function will be exercised by the man in question only twice a week.
5. These "accompanying males" will be elected on the afternoon of special weekly meetings. Those who attend the meetings will be given preference over those who happen to be absent.
6. The weekly service of the wives will be executed by the following: Bertha Gerando; Caroline Assenac; Julie Breton; Leonie Duport; Juliette Sizac; Lina Castex; Nathalie Nassau; Palmyre Rastegue; Adrienne Beausire; Theresita Sifferland.
7. Each of the married women will take turns every week to make acquisitions among persons that are outside the collective group. She may promenade on the fashionable Boulevards and permit well-dressed strangers of good manners to address her and make her acquaintance. The strangers may be of either sex. The price agreed upon must be quite high in contrast to common prostitution. The male, or female, stranger will be invited to specially rented apartments where our group member will be able to initiate her guest into all pleasures of love, while other members of the group will watch over her safety, though hidden from the visitor. If the latter should be a person of great wealth and cultural achievements, it must be attempted to keep his interest in further meetings.
8. The following ladies will take turns in this service of acquisition:
9. Every Sunday all members of the Collective will assemble in a country house near Paris where they will spend the weekend.
10. All group members must attend these weekend meetings at least once a month.
11. In order to habituate the members to the promiscuous pleasures of love, a special program will be worked out for every meeting.
12. A "queen" will be elected by casting lots in order to preside over those Sunday meetings.
13. The "queen" must be obeyed in everything concerning the love activities. She will be assisted by an "honorary knight" (who must not be her husband), and by an "honorary lady-in-waiting."
14. Every group member will pay the amount of ten thousand francs as enrollment fee.
15. The monthly contribution of every group member will be one hundred francs.
16. Every participant of the Sunday meetings will contribute 25 francs, each time.
17. All married women among the members who take over the weekly "at home" service, or the acquisition service, and also those who have just finished it, are obligated to attend the Sunday meetings.
18. After finishing her weekly acquisition service, every woman will pay one hundred francs to the treasurer.
19. The gentleman who accompanies a woman on her weekly outings will pay twenty francs to the treasurer.
20. Mr. Louis Assenac will function as the treasurer, while Mr. Breton will be the General Manager whose duty will also be to purchase a suitable country villa for the Sunday meetings and to furnish it completely.
21. Any children resulting from the love unions of the members shall be provided with an insurance of 50,000 francs, payable at their coming of age.
22. Each newly acquired group member will have to pay 10,000 francs enrollment fee.
23. Should a member wish to leave the Collective he will have to pay a severance fee of 10,000 francs.
24. Every married woman on her weekly "at home" service may sell a voucher to any male who wishes to enjoy other female members of the group, who, in her turn, has to honor the voucher.
The foregoing statutes have been accepted and signed in duplicate by all members of the Collective who will, at all times, consider themselves as parts of our phalansterian family.
Out first Sunday meeting will take place on Sunday, May 23, and will have to be attended by ALL group members. Pierre Breton will send out the invitations.
The ladies, Bertha Gerando and Juliette Sizac, will start their afternoon "at home" service on Monday, May 16. Until such time as the purchase of a house of our own can be made, Juliette will receive any male, or female, lovers in a specially rented apartment at 227 Rue des Grandes-Ecluses.
