rom
the way I snuggled up to Fairy, she caught on. I was out of breath,
really I was ashamed of myself, but I wasn't just sure then whether I'd
ever let him put his arm around me again or not. But Fairy turned over,
and began to talk. Professor," she said solemnly, "Fairy and I always
pretend to be snippy and sarcastic and sneer at each other, but in my
heart, I think Fairy is very nearly as good as Prudence, yes, sir, I do.
Why, Fairy's fine, she's just awfully fine."

"Yes, I'm sure she is."

"She said that once, when she was fifteen, one of the boys at Exminster
kissed her good night. And she didn't mind it a bit. But father was
putting the horses in the barn, and he came out just in time to see it;
it was a moonlight night. After the boys had gone, father hurried in and
took Fairy outdoors for a little talk, just the two of them alone. He
said that in all the years he and my mother were married, every time he
kissed her he remembered that no man but he had ever touched her lips,
and it made him happy. He said he was always sort of thanking God
inside, whenever he held her in his arms. He said nothing else in the
world made a man so proud, and glad and grateful, as to know his wife
was all his own, and that even her lips had been reserved for him like a
sacred treasure that no one else could share. He said it would take the
meanest man on earth, and father thinks there aren't many as mean as
that, to go back on a woman like that. Fairy said she burst out crying
because her husband wouldn't ever be able to feel that way when he
kissed her. But father said since she was so young, and innocent, and it
being the first time, it wouldn't really count. Fairy swore off that
minute,--never again! Of course, when I knew how father felt about
mother, I wanted my husband to have as much pleasure in me as father did
in her, and Fairy and I made a solemn resolve that we would never, even
'hold hands,' and that's very simple, until we got crazy enough about a
man to think we'd like to marry him if we got a chance. And I never have
since then, not once."

"Carol," he said in a low voice, "I wish I had known it. I wouldn't have
kissed you for anything. God knows I wouldn't. I--I think I am man
enough not to have done it anyhow if I had only thought a minute, but
God knows I wouldn't have done it if I had known about this. You don't
know how--contemptible--I feel."

"Oh, that's all right," she said comfortingly, her eyes glowing.