Had she been able but faintly to guess what was to ensue on her being left alone with him, she would have fled up-stairs with the rest of the family and left Absalom to keep company with the chairs.
XVII
THE TEACHER MEETS ABSALOM
Only a short time had the sitting-room been abandoned to them when Tillie was forced to put a check upon her lover's ardor.
"Now, Absalom," she firmly said, moving away from his encircling arm, "unless you leave me be, I'm not sitting on the settee alongside you at all. You MUST NOT kiss me or hold my hand—or even touch me. Never again. I told you so last Sunday night."
"But why?" Absalom asked, genuinely puzzled. "Is it that I kreistle you, Tillie?"
"N—no," she hesitated. An affirmative reply, she knew, would be regarded as a cold-blooded insult. In fact, Tillie herself did not understand her own repugnance to Absalom's caresses.
"You act like as if I made you feel repulsive to me, Tillie," he complained.
"N—no. I don't want to be touched. That's all."