It took her a while to learn just how much I was motivated to allow her to indulge herself in this way, but gradually she came to realise that I had a deep need of this ritual of denial and apparent treachery followed by reconciliation. And as she learned, she also saw how to exploit it for her benefit. She began to play on my fears, teasing me cruelly, offering me glimpses of what she was about, little tell-tale details. Increasingly she sent pictures. For example she liked to send a photo of the room she was in, often a hotel room, sometimes a man’s apartment. She particular enjoyed it if the man was rich and lived somewhere expensive. She would afford me glances at the furniture, the paintings on the wall, the well-stocked library, the state of the art kitchen, the luxurious bedroom. Es
