The World of Courtesans c8.204

c8.204

But the courtesan was always ready to be reconciled to her former lover, i.e., if he had not become attached to another courtesan and if he showed a genuine inclination to be reconciled to her again, and if his finances were sound enough to warrant this reconciliation. But even if he carried on with another courtesan, she took care to make inquiries and make sure that he was not an absolutely impossible case. If she found out that the man had already abandoned two courtesans before, she regarded him as a fickle-minded person and did not seek any reconciliation with him. But if a man had been abandoned by other courtesans and if his mind was steady and his finances sound, the courtesan was ready for a reconciliation. If a man had been discarded by the second courtesan and he promised to pay the first one extra money in advance then he was accepted by her. She even accepted all over again a lover who, while consorting with another, continued his correspondence with her and impressed her with his feelings for her. But she had to be careful about the ulterior motives of such a lover. A vascillating lover had to be approached carefully and his income had to be borne in mind. The courtesan also took pleasure in making him swallow his pride. The other factors that allowed a courtesan to reconsider accepting a lover again were the improvement in his social status, the death of his wife, and his independence or separation from his parents. Sometimes the whole purpose behind the reconsideration was to humiliate a lover in his wife's eyes and also make him appear fickle in every way.