We had created for each other an illusion, and by our presence gave it reality for a while. We fell in love – not with each other – but each with the image of himself in the other’s eyes. These reflections acted and reacted back and forth, cumulatively – and so expanded the nucleus of genuine affection into an illusion of overwhelming passion. At the file cabinet I saw something of elegance and beauty in her face. And that was the real foundation upon which we built a fair castle. For in that moment, she saw my perception of her, found this image of herself pleasing and began to think more highly of me for my discernment.
My next perception discovered in her there, not only the beauty already noticed, but her complimentary appraisal of me. Whereupon I realized she must be a woman of extraordinary sensitivity!!
And, when next she glanced at me she noticed this added element of my perception of her, which led again to revise upward her image of me.
But, she had looked not into my heart but into the mirror of my eyes that had seen only their embellished image of herself. So I must conclude, that what so enchanted me about her was her appreciation of me.
We were strangers looking into each other’s eyes and seeing only ourselves.