Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-07-26
DAILY STORY
WHAT CAME OF A KISS.
fOriginal. I

sang in the afternoon, while the Tree
toad was preparing for an engagement
evenings.
Within the dropping boughs of cop
per beech hung a hammock, and IN
the hammock lay girl. There was
not bit of color in her attire, from
the lace about her neck to her white
shoes. She had promised him game, /
but it was very hot, and instead OF
going on to the grounds her steps had
been deflecsed to the hammock.
What's that triangulating on the !
tennis court? White trousers like
pair of dividers give an appearance of ,
triangulation. The owner of the
trousers is laZily dancing tennis ball
on a racket He wonders why she
doesn't come Presently he strolls to-
ward the house to look for her. He
doesn't find her on the porch. so he en- !
tiers the hall and calls to her No an
swer. He returns to the porch and F.,
stands looking out at anything, every !
thing. nothing. Then he catches sight
of something white moving under the
branches of the copper beech. He tri-
angulates there, moving with more
animation than before, and. lifting Il
bough, looks under the green roof. She
sleeps Intent on the lovely sight he
fore him, it doesn't occur to him that
the vibrations had stopped rather sud
denly. SO still is she that life is evil
dent only by the rising and falling of
her BOSOM The mouth is in an admiral
bic position to be kissed, the head
thrown back and partly over the ham,
mOck's side. The birds above sing
love songs to one another; the insects
on the lawn give a fantasia in the
same strain. The maxwell, the man
stoops and kisses the girl
She does not awaken, and he kisses
her again.
Thrice he kisses her. and the third
time she moves. Then after bit she
opens her eyes and blinks at him.
''Why, where did you come FROM"
From the tennis court, where you
were to have joined me-
It's too hot for tennis"
Il think 50 too. Much pleasanter
here. 1 might have won pair Of
gloves"
You wouldn't do that"
"WhyW
Because you are a gentleman"
Would you never have forgiven
me-"
"Never-that is, unless we had been
engaged"
He thought n moment, then said,
There was no temptation under the
! circumstances
NO temptation. How compliment
tary"
Il mean that knowing ! would incur
your displeasure if 1 kissed you l
wouldn't think of doing So
''Ohm
He was sitting on wicker chair be-
side her hammering the ground with
his racket absently.
What are you thinking about?' she
asked.
| Il once kissed n girl in i hammock"
he said, land | wasn't engaged to her
either. She was asleep, just as YOU
were. l kissed her three times, and
the third time she awOke. She knew
very well I'd kissed her"
What did she do?"
"She didn't do anything"
"And what did you do?"
Il didn't do anything either at the
time. But that evening it was moon
light. She went to sleep on the wicker
lounge on the porch-and-we | kiss,
ed her again
1t was now her turn to do the think.
ing.
Il suppose" she said presently, that
SO long as you had kissed her once be
fore
Three times"
at didn't make so much difference
about the fourth kisS-that is, from
you-and since she was asleep Il
wasn't her fault anyway"
IF you should go to sleep on the
wicker lounge on the porch tonight anG
l should kiss you, you wouldn't be t.
blame, would your
Certainly not. But you?'
ooh, maybe I'd be to blame, bu
since you didn't know anything abou
it there wouldn't be any harm done"
81 don't know about that"
-
The moon shone down ON corne
of the porch covered with wistaria. or
rather, the moon shOne on the wistari:
while the corner was in deep shadow
This distinction may seem trivial, blu
it Is not in this case, for on wicke
lounge in the corner a girl lay asleep
True. one tiny ray struggling through
the vine touched her lips. He was sit
ting beside her. This time he was il
the hammock.
"Asleep?" he asked in low tone.
There was no reply.
He bent forward and kissed her.
She awoke.
81 believe you kissed me-" she said.