The Paying Guests

The events of the previous night feel like a dream. Frances can still feel Lilian’s embrace. She finds her mother in the kitchen, worrying about Leonard. Leonard emerges; he is fine, except for a headache. Mrs. Wray drags Frances along to warn the neighbors about Leonard’s attack. Frances worries that Lilian is avoiding her.

Lilian left flowers for Frances in her room. Frances wants desperately to be alone with Lilian, but they do not have such an opportunity until later. Lilian was not avoiding her; she did not know how to address her in front of Leonard or Mrs. Wray. The two slip away to Frances’s room. They kiss again and partially undress. Frances is the first woman Lilian has kissed. Frances has kissed dozens. Lilian used to think the idea of kissing a woman immoral; now, however, she feels romance when she kisses Frances. Lilian was cross with Frances when she originally admitted her secret because Lilian was jealous; she wanted to be the object of Frances’s affections. The two have sex once again. They part to do the morning chores; their time apart is agony.

Frances goes about her day, trying not to arouse suspicion in her mother.