“It looks to me like the truth. Some one has kissed you. Come now, own up!”
“If I do, you will swear”—and she rose to her knees, and leant against the sofa—“to keep my secret?”
“Yes, I swear—a million times over!”
“Well—I’ve no call to be ashamed; it was six years ago, and I was only a slip of a thing; but a man did kiss me, and I kissed him”—a pause—“through a pane of glass!”
Tito sat erect, stared incredulously, and burst into a scream of laughter; it rang through the room, peal after peal. At that moment Lady Grizel appeared in the doorway, where she stood for a moment in startled silence.
“Why, Tito, you have nearly drowned the luncheon gong!” she said. “What is the joke?”
Tito, still gasping for breath, scrambled off the sofa and replied: “The best joke I’ve heard for years!” and drying her eyes, she repeated, “The best I’ve heard for years! I must refer you to Joseline!”
But Joseline had already sprung to her feet, and fled.