Free Second Chance by Linda Kepner

grin, as they got up to return to the afternoon sessions. “Leaving you here, helpless, at a woman’s mercy …”
    Louis smiled up at him. “I think I am safe here, mon ami . Tomorrow morning, however, can someone pick me up at seven in the morning? I must go back to my room, shave, and change clothes.”
    “Sure, I’ll arrange it,” Gray confirmed.
    Sukey said, “We’ll be back this evening to see if you kids need anything.”
    “All right,” said Bishou. “Thank you.” She showed her guests to the door, and closed it at last.
    Louis stretched out again on the couch and wrapped the blanket around him. “How were you planning to spend the rest of your day? If you must leave me here alone, I promise I will not rob you.”
    “No, I was planning to work on my dissertation. That’s why I had the papers out. Will the typing bother you?”
    “No. What have you got to read in French?”
    Bishou scooped a handful of paperbacks out of the bookshelf and piled them on the floor beside him. Louis went carefully through the pile, finally selecting a tired paperback. “Ah! I haven’t seen one of these since I was a child. Was this adventure story Bat’s or yours?”
    “We both like them,” Bishou smiled, and sat at her desk to work. Soon, she was involved in the argument of her thesis, and he was quietly reading on the couch.
    Bishou worked for well over an hour, satisfied that her notes were shaping up. Then she rolled three sheets of paper with carbon papers sandwiched between them into her typewriter to type a couple more precious pages in triplicate. She glanced at Louis, absorbed in the adventure story, a little smile on his lips. He really is easy to please , she thought.
    She got up to find a reference or two, brought the books back to her desk, sat down, wrote a little more, and then typed more. It was slow going, but solid work — what a dissertation needed.
    Bishou glanced at Louis again. She was surprised to find he was lying on his side, without a book, watching her. He closed his eyes quickly, as if he’d been caught out.
    “ Quoi ?” Then she glanced down at herself. She hadn’t adjusted her clothing when she sat down again in the chair, and her skirt had shimmied up. She showed quite an expanse of leg and garter. Bishou snorted, and pulled down the skirt. “Monsieur Dessant.”
    Louis opened his eyes, that same smile on his lips. “Well, I am a man. I could not help but look.”
    She felt her face burn. His smile vanished.
    In a different tone, he said, “While there is no one else around, let us discuss those papers.”
    “All right.”
    “Are you planning to document me in your thesis?”
    “No,” she replied, honestly.
    “Then why do you have those clippings? Why should my name be in some university binder forever?”
    “It won’t be there, I swear it, Louis.”
    “Then why have them? Why save those horrible things?” he insisted.
    “I have them because the author refers to various books on the subject, and then draws references from life. I don’t draw references from life in my dissertation, not at all.”
    “Pfah!” He turned his head in disbelief.
    Bishou understood, and it made her smile. “Let me explain about degree candidacy, Monsieur. A candidate for an advanced degree goes before an examination panel. The members of this panel may be drawn from anywhere in the world, depending on the subject matter. So — the material referred to in the dissertation must be equally available to all of them. That means not a television show, not a clipping, not an oral history, but printed matter. Mainly, books. Nothing may be involved that the professor from Guelph cannot research as easily as the professor from Lyon.”
    “They are from all over the world, these inquisitors?”
    She nodded. “I have no idea who they will be yet. They may not even tell me. But Dr. Roth will arrange for them all to be in a certain place at a certain time, to ask me questions so I can defend my thesis.