18/70 The room was so small and he seemed absolutely to fill it, so that I felt really _flattened_ against the wall. It was as though he were showing me deliberately how much finer a man he was than I, how much stronger his body, that he could do _anything_ with me if he liked. He asked me, very politely, whether I'd mind blowing out the candle and I did it at once. He watched me as I walked across the floor and I felt ashamed of my thinness and my ugliness and _I know that he knew that I was ashamed_. After the light was blown out I heard him settle into his bed with a great heavy plop. |