"You _do_ mean kissing, don't you?" "If you must have the horrid word." "And it was _after_ that that she said----?" "Yes. Rather unbelievable, isn't it?... And that," Amory broke out anew, "is what made me so angry. In a room where the workmen might come at any moment, too! And then to talk about _me_!... Listen, Cosimo, I'm going to make a confession. I know it isn't necessary with you, but I want to make it. I want you to know exactly how much and how little I have to reproach myself with; then you'll see. An awful man did once kiss me, at a dance at the McGrath--and once I did give a kiss--I'll tell you----" Cosimo made a little protesting movement. "Oh, Amory, do you think you need defend yourself to me----?" "But I want to tell you. It wasn't to a man--it was to a beautiful object--the Antinöus in the Louvre. I dare say it was foolish, but I thought it so beautiful, and anybody with any understanding at all would have regarded it as--don't think me silly--as a sort of dedication--to my art--and I have been faithful to my ideal ever since----" Cosimo's eyes were moist with emotion. The beautiful gesture! What a ripping touch that would be if anybody ever wrote the life of the painter of "Barrage!"... "Oh!" he breathed reverentially. "You are superb, Amory." "And of course I'm not counting that stupid thing at my aunt's wedding----" "That----," said Cosimo, straightway dismissing it. "And that's all--absolutely all," said Amory, softly and bitterly. "To all intents and purposes I've never been kissed.... So don't you think, Cosimo, that from her at any rate I might have been spared this?" She lifted the shallow opals of her eyes. Suddenly Cosimo ceased to be the still strong man. He became the hero, dreadful in his anger. "It's unbelievable--cruel!" he cried. "And I'm going to see about it! You wait here--I'm going now--I'm going to get to the bottom of this--you stay here till I come back." He was half-way across the room, reaching for his hat. But Amory called him. "Cosimo----!" "We'll talk about it when I get back!" Cosimo muttered, grim once more. Talking would do any time. This was the hour for action. "But--Cosimo--wait! You can't go to her! She'd think I'd been telling you things--she doesn't understand these moments when the truth simply must be told! Come here and be reasonable. She'd only round on you; I know her! If I can take it calmly I think you might. I'm not angry now. I'm going to take simply no notice. 'Let Gryll be Gryll and have his hoggish mind'--you know--it's in the _Faerie Queene_. That's what _I_ think about it.... So _you_ don't mind, do you, Cosimo?" Something in this, he did not know what, arrested Cosimo, but Amory gave him no time to think. She continued--