From Jest to Earnest

by Edward Payson Roe

"'You look like the sweetest rose in the cure's garden.'

"'Is that the way big brothers talk to their little sisters?'

"'That is the way I talk to you, and I'm in earnest.'

"'How do little sisters treat a brother as big as you are?'

"'Well, for one thing, they kiss them.'

"'That's queer,' said Ninon, innocently. 'I should think it would be just the other way.'

"'Now I think of it, you are right,' and the stranger gave her a kiss that set every nerve tingling.

"'How odd!' she exclaimed, half-frightened, half-delighted. 'Pierre sometimes kisses me, but I never felt that way before.'

"'And big brothers take their little sisters in their arms and lift them over the rough places, as I do.'

"And he carried her over a low stone wall that separated them from a shadowy grove.