s immediately preceding, that I meant to ask her to call
me Roscoe and in return to vouchsafe to me the boon and the privilege of
calling her Hildegarde.

Bending her head, she said, with that simple directness so
characteristic of her, "Go right ahead." Suddenly I found her hand
intertwined in mine. I do not attempt to explain this phenomenon;
indeed, I was not conscious of having sought to encompass her hand
within my own; I merely state it a verity. Her fingers pressed against
mine--or so to me it seemed.

"Go right ahead, doctor," she repeated. "I'm listening."

The touch of her hand laid a spell upon me. Instantaneously all my
forces of self-reserve were swept away. With the startling abruptness of
a bolt from the blue, realisation of a thing which I had never before
suspected came full upon me, and for the first time I knew that for
Hildegarde Hamm I entertained a sentiment deeper than that of mere
friendship--yes, far, far deeper. I knew that I cared for her; in short,
I knew that I loved her.

Madness was upon me--a delicious, an all-consuming fire burned within
me. I forgot that I was a guest beneath her roof, enjoying the
hospitality of her beloved and revered relative. I forgot the meed of
respect I owed to her, forgot the responsibilities imposed upon me. I
forgot all else except that I, Roscoe T. Fibble, loved Hildegarde Hamm.

[Illustration: TO BE EXACT, I KISSED AT HER]

I became as the caveman, who by brute force would win his mate. I obeyed
a primeval impulse. Without a word of warning, without excuse, without
prefatory remark of any nature whatsoever, I acted:

I kissed her. To be exact, I kissed at her.

For, in this moment fraught with such consequences to all concerned, she
averted her head at yet a greater angle. The implant of the osculation
was destined for her cheek. It reached her nose--the tip of her nose
only.

I do not plead this circumstance in partial extenuation. The intent had
been plain, the deed was consummated. I had practically kissed her.

She leaped to her feet, as I to mine. Her eyes, alight with an
inscrutable expression, looked into mine; her cheeks became diffused
with the crimsoned glow of righteous indignation; her form was
convulsed; she quivered from head to feet. For a moment this scene
endured. Then ere my lips, but lately contracted for the chaste but
unbidden salute, could frame the first stammered syllable of an
apology, she buried her ensanguined face in h