“I say, Vi, give me a kiss,” he said.
She drew back a moment, wondering why she did so. “But, my dear, why?” she asked.
“We’re cousins,” he said. “Why shouldn’t you? I should awfully like to kiss you.”
She had got over her momentary surprise, which was, no doubt, what made her hesitate. There was no conceivable reason, though they did not kiss each other, why they should not.
“And if I won’t?” she said.
“I shall think it unkind of you.”
She came close to him. “Oh, Colin, I’m not unkind,” she said, and kissed him.
He stood with his hands on her shoulders, not letting her go, though making no attempt to kiss her again. “That was delicious of you,” he said.
Suddenly and quite unexpectedly to herself, Violet found her heart beating soft and fast, and she was glad of the darkness, for she knew that a heightened colour had sprung to her face. Was Colin, too, she wondered, affected in any such way?
His light laugh, the release of her shoulders from his cool hands, answered her.