It took seeing an immobilized, confused woman with one leg in the air for Henri's thoughts to turn from fear to carnal pleasure.
"Of course champagne!" he sashayed in dramatically."You did not think I had forgotten mi'lady?" Vivica looked properly confused as Henri had anticipated, but did not seem to contradict him. He counted on her addled state to see him through.
"And if the crew werent so busy with all the commotion on board just now, Viv...may I call you Viv?...yes, well then our Oysters would be here by now too! Where IS that cabinboy I wonder. Well, I see you are looking and most probably feeling better", Henri lied. I thought we would celebrate your recovery properly." Henri swiftly rose and fetched two glasses, not flutes, but they would do. He made a big show of popping the champagne, although the bottle did not cooperate and opened with a noise that sounded more like a wet fart than a pop. "Ahhh...here we are", he purred as he poured the champagne. As he did, Henri glanced at the book on the floor.
'The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception or Mystic Christianity, by Max Heindal', the front cover announced. There was also a picture of a cross, a heart, a rose, and some other fancy symbols. *Vivica, a Rosicrucian? no! it could not be, must be some other explanation*. Henri had heard of the book. Most everyone had. It was published earlier that year, and had swept the world of religion and the occult by the proverbial storm.
Henri decided agianst chatting about such a volume, instead fixing his eyes on Vivica's face. He was just about to coo something in her ear about massaging her leg, to help the bloodflow to her ankle, when Ilsa came staggering in!
This was the second time Ilsa had kept him from enjoying some flesh, he thought. First in his own cabin, and now here! Romance is not in the cards today, sonny, he thought to himself, and turned to Ilsa, irritated at first but then concerned, when he saw her quivering body and the delirious look on her face.
"Ilsa?! I thought you were...what happened now!?", he stared at her. "Tell me."