After a night of fitful sleep, broken by a cascade of whimsical visions of Aldessa, he woke, relieved that with the day came the real world. He could better deal with the present than wrestle with an invisible opponent in his mind. At the washstand, he scrubbed his hands and brushed his teeth, more vigorously and attentively than usual. Lathering his face, he began shaving the previous couple of days’ stubble, taking great care lest he nicked his skin. That done, he washed his face and his mother’s voice, from childhood, came to him: “Use plenty of soap, Baudet, and don’t forget to do behind your ears!”
“Use plenty of soap, Baudet, and don’t forget to do behind your ears!”Sound advice, he agreed now, if not at the time, and he soon felt clean and prepared for the affair ahead. Such fastid
