THE IMPOSTOR
I THE GOVERNOR'S NIECE
Martha Stirling came slowly down the steps into the garden, pausing for a moment, on each step, lest the Governor hear her; then she sped quickly across the lawn, and, bending over, kissed him on the cheek.
"Good morning, your Excellency!" she laughed.
Colonel Sharpe looked up, with a start.
"Bless me, girl! have some regard for your uncle's dignity," he said, drawing her down on the arm of the chair. "It seems to me, young lady, that you are a trifle clever in the kissing art, to never have been kissed yourself."
"For shame, sir! You, a royal Governor—no, I mean a Lord Baltimore's Governor—to intimate so scandalous a thing. It may be, sir, that, as to you, I could truthfully not intimate.... Tell me, who is the young man that came with Mr. Dulany."
"Ho, ho! That is the reason for the kiss: to make me amenable. Why did you not say, 'the handsome young man'?"
"The handsome young man, then; indeed, the very handsome young man."