ETERNA AND SWEETHEART (DURATION OF SCENE: THAT OF A FLOWER'S OPENING.)

In all this novel’s time — which is the only time of artistic existence, and Eterna and Sweetheart’s only artistic existence — only Eterna can know the rosiness of Sweetheart’s cheeks, and only Sweetheart can know Eterna’s black eyes and hair and pale forehead, from window to window in the light of afternoon. In the silence of the country night they only hear the other’s voice, both lovely but very different, Eterna speaking to the unseen President, and Sweetheart and Maybegenius speaking by the window.

All that either knew of the other happened after this, on one day, and only one, fleeting encounter. Eterna held in her hands two roses, of different sizes, one white and the other red, that she had pulled out of a great hamper of flowers. Her gaze move from one to the other, comparing them; later she tied them together and put them in a vase for the President; still later, she untied them and left only the white one for him.

Jealousy? That he could love them both? And in the end, love only Eterna?

And so it was that this certain morning Sweetheart tried dressing her hair as Eterna did, a style she never wore, and in the end she took it out and went back to her own hairstyle, saying to herself with generous admiration: “It only looks good on her, even though she’s 39 and I’m only 19. Let him love her, and just stroke my hair sometimes.”

Sweetheart and Eterna never saw each other a second time, nor knew about what has been recounted here.

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