ght 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.

It was beautiful in the stilly sitting-room, away from the noisy
crowd, to hear love's heart beating. He darted to the chair where
Gertie had sat and guiltily kissed its arm. He tiptoed to the table,
blew out the lamp, remembered that he should only have turned down the
wick, tried to raise the chimney, burnt his fingers, snatched his
handkerchief, dropped it, groaned, picked up the handkerchief, raised
the chimney, put it on the table, searched his pockets for a match,
found it, dropped it, picked it up from the floor, dropped his knife
from his pocket as he stooped, felt itchy about the scalp, picked up
the knife, relighted the lamp, exquisitely adjusted the chimney--and
again blew out the flame. And swore.

As darkness whirled into the room again the vision of Gertie came
nearer. Then he understood his illness, and gasped: "Great jumping
Jupiter on a high mountain! I guess--I'm--in--love! _Me!_"

The party was breaking up. Each boy, as he accompanied a girl from the
yellow lamplight into the below-zero cold, shouted and scuffled the
snow, to indicate that there was nothing serious in his attentions,
and immediately tried to manoeuver his girl away from the others.
Mrs. Cowles was standing in the hall--not hurrying the guests away,
you understand, but perfectly resigned to accepting any
farewells--when Gertie, moving gently am