He is smiling all through, however.
"What's the matter with it?" asks Tita.
"Don't you know? Must I tell you? Last night, Tita, you told me you would never want to kiss me again."
"Well, kissing's a bore," says Tita, with a little grimace. "I never want to kiss anyone really, except——"
She hesitates.
"Except?" asks Rylton, his grasp tighter on her arms.
"Except Margaret."
Rylton bursts out laughing; for the moment he believes her, afterwards—
"What a baby you are!" says he; "and what a cruel baby! Tita, I shan't believe you have forgiven me unless you——"
"I think it is you who are the baby," says she, with a shrug. "What on earth do you want to kiss me for? Well, there," holding up to him the coolest, freshest cheek in the world, "you can kiss me if you like."