"Finding other women," Franklin Clegg said, "is like filling your stomach with plain bread or rice. You would be full, but your heart would still be empty. Do you understand?"
He extended his knotty, slender fingers, drawing circles in the air in front of her. "This person yearns for delicious delicacies, he dreams about it every day. Now, if it's right in front of him, do you think that he will eat it, or not?"
His fingers, both in shape and length, were extraordinarily similar to Hank Clegg's, yet it startled Victoria Talkington so much that she stuttered in response.
She stammered, "Are you... are you sure it's the delicious delicacies... instead of... simple porridge?"
Franklin Clegg was taken aback.
Then he suddenly burst out laughing.
"Oh, you are such a fool, Victoria Talkington, to be so frightened."
Throughout the years she has known him, it was the first time she saw him laugh like this.
