Unnamed Amorous Couple

The "two figures" Horace sees locked in an embrace in "an alley-mouth" in Memphis in Sanctuary are probably outside Miss Reba's house, though it is possible they exist only in his mind, which is reeling from his encounter with Temple inside the brothel and the story she tells him about being raped. The behavior of the couple certainly matches Horace's fascinated revulsion with sexuality: the man whispers "unprintable epithet after epithet" caressingly; the woman swoons with "voluptuous ecstasy" (221).