"I don't, either, so there----" "I think it's awful." "Bet I kiss Gertie----" Carl was furious at all of them as they strained their shoulders forward from their chairs and laughed. He asked himself, "Haven't these galoots got any sense?" To speak so lightly of kissing Gertie! He stared at the smooth rounding of her left cheek below the cheek-bone till it took a separate identity, and its white softness filled the room. Ten minutes afterward, playing "post-office," he was facing Gertie in the semi-darkness of the sitting-room, authorized by the game to kiss her; shut in with his divinity. She took his hand. Her voice was crooning, "Are you going to kiss me terribly hard?" He tried to be gracefully mocking: "Oh yes! Sure! I'm going to eat you alive." She was waiting. He wished that she would not hold his hand. Within he groaned, "Gee whiz! I feel foolish!" He croaked: "Do you feel better, now? You'll catch more cold in here, won't you? There's kind of a draught. Lemme look at this window." Crossing to the obviously tight window, he ran his finger along the edge of the sash with infinite care. He trembled. In a second, _now_, he had to turn and make light of the lips which he would fain have approached with ceremony pompous and lingering. Gertie flopped into a chair, laughing: "I believe you're afraid to kiss me! 'Fraid cat! You'll never be a squire of dames, like those actors are! All right for you!" "I am not afraid!" he piped.... Even his prized semi-bass voice had deserted him.... He rushed to the back of her chair and leaned over, confused, determined. Hastily he kissed her. The kiss landed on the tip of her cold nose. And the whole party was tumbling in, crying: "Time 's up! You can't hug her all evening!" "Did you see? He kissed her on the nose!" "Did he? Ohhhhh!" "Time 's up. Can't try it again." Joe Jordan, in the van, was dancing fantastically, scraping his forefinger at Carl, in token of disgrace. The riotous crowd, Gertie and Carl among them, flooded out again. To show that he had not minded the incident of the misplaced kiss, Carl had to be very loud and merry in the library for a few minutes; but when the game of "post-office" was over and Mrs. Cowles asked Ray to turn down the lamp in the sitting-room, Carl insisted: "I'll do it, Mrs. Cowles; I'm nearer 'n Ray," and bolted. He knew that he was wicked in not staying in the library and continuing his duties to the party. He had to crowd into a minute all his agonizing and be back at once.