Two boys entered school together. One sane and plump and normal. Brown hair, blue eyes, fine hands. One wiry and waxy and a little mad. The school was dark and echo-ey, halls spreading in many directions toward schoolrooms dusty and moldering. But it was a school of the county anyways and so they went.They grew older and upon graduation found themselves on different paths - the wiry, energetic Alex toward great success as a financier and entrepreneur, and the other, William, with a slight interest in music and literature and degrees in history and botany. William did not wander far afield, but slowly his circle of knowledge broadened and by the time he was thirty he found himself in France, soon to be the son-in-law of a French publisher, by way of his rather enchanting daughter - a Frenchwoman with dark curls.
It was at this time that William heard of Alex's meteoric success and toasted it quietly in his rented French rooms with a bottle of fine but inexpensive canary.
William soon received an invitation to a summer party in Rimes, where Alex had his country house. Happy and somewhat starstruck, William accepted with the request he could bring his lovely fiancee.
They arrived in late afternoon to the grand estate. Alex had indeed done well for himself. Gravel drives led up to the house and stables - yes indeed, there were stables - and the house was no small country cottage. They were greeted by Alex's butler and shown up to their spacious accommodations. Separate bedrooms for them - how proper an old-fashioned of Alex! But perhaps he just had too many to spare...
Dinner with Alex was nothing to sneeze at. Groomed thoroughly and in their finest, the couple descended the stairs to an eerily well-lit dining room. It looked like a movie set. The rest of the party had already convened, and a motley assortment of glittering individuals sparkled in the intense electric lights and endless, polished mirrors that filled the room. Among this beautiful throng, Alex stood at the center of a circle of young and beautiful women - languid, lazy, not attending women so focused on their own interests it was obvious they had little use for Alex's. His hold of his champagne glass was elegant but his face had grown rather brutal.
Alex's eyes lit on William and Etienne. "Ah! Old friend!" he cried, holding his glass up in salute, and the liquid sparkled thinly, like the sets of women's eyes which turned upon them.
Alex's dinner party was pleasant in a clebrity way; talk of nights on yachts, private islands, premieres, theatre events. It was rather overwhelming. But William shcook his head in wonder and cast surprised looks at Etienne, who cast them back with a hidden smile. They were seated apart again, but no matter. William raised his wine glass and a warm smile to Etienne, and she toasted him in return. Two paupers at the palace.
Over the next few days the party expanded a little - days by the pool, tennis, horseback riding, golf. William was more often than not separated from Etienne by this or that circumstance or arrangement, and only found relief from this in the hours when she crept to his room and into his arms.
The last week (it was a two-and-a-half-week stay) caused William some alarm. On repeated occasions he would find Etienne alone with Alex, chatting casually but closely. There was no doubt that William loved Etienne, but could Etienne resist the temptation of a life like Alex's?
The left on a dry, rather gray midweek afternoon. The auto, unused for some time, started splutteringly but finally cuaght and roared. Etienne looked distractedly out the window. A pressing silence filled the car almost to bursting point.
William couldn't see beyond the brim of her hat, but the dark curls of Etienne's beautiful hari escaped and lay, always alive, against the milky tan of her nekc. William waited, his breath shallow.
"You know William, I think I ought to tell you..." Etienne began, then halted.
"Yes?" his voice sounded dry and dusty, but it was out now. He had asked the question.
"Your friend Alex, he - er..." she took a breath. "He passed at me."
William looked at her quizzicially. "Passed?"
"Yes - he asked me to his yacht for the summer. Just me. Only me."
"Ah-" suddenly it became clear. Alex had propositioned his fiancee. Rage began to burn. Rage and fear.
"And what did you say?" he asked, trying to make his voice academic.
She turned to him with a snap. "Why I said no. Absolutely no, of course. I was not interested!" she exclaimed.
William looked apologetic. She saw it, and settled back in her seat with a sigh.
"Well, I find him so boring anyway. He only cares about ---" she pondered.
"Success," supplied William. A warm glow filled him. For the first time in his life, Wiliam felt truly successful. And it was not due to anything he had done. It was a feeling he would feel many times in his life with Etienne. He only hoped that at this moment she felt equally the blaze of absolute and unmitigated success that he did.
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