The World of Courtesans c8.155

c8.155

After these preliminaries were over the girl's reactions were judged by the following signs. She did not look the lover straight in the face; if he gazed at her she betrayed her bashfulness. She exposed her breasts and arms coquettishly in order to attract the lover or gazed at him from some hidden place. If the hero happened to talk to her, she inclined her head downwards and smilingly answered him in inaudible words. At this stage she always desired to be close to him. If she saw her lover looking at her from a distance, she kept talking to her attendant, she went on gesticulating and knitting her eyebrows and refused to leave the place. She laughed without any reason and encouraged her confidantes to speak about her lover. She kissed a child held in her lap and in the presence of the lover drew a *tilaka* on the forehead of her attendant. She sported with her and arranged her hair, moved her limbs and yawned. She confided fully in her lover's friends and listened to their advice. Going a step further, she spoke sweetly to his attendants and engaged them to perform their respective duties as though she were their mistress. Finally encouraged by the nurse's daughter she entered her lover's house and played or conversed with him. Henceforward she never appeared in his presence without adorning herself with ornaments. If she desired earrings, rings or garlands from him, she got them through her confidante. Such was her love for him that if her family spoke of other suitors, she felt dejected and refused to share their company.