CHAPTER FOUR
I
That Irene and Kemp should embrace and kiss at the table Grace assumed to be the accepted procedure at such parties. Kissing to the accompaniment of cocktails was not without its piquancy, but the picture presented by Irene and Kemp she found unedifying. Under the stimulus of alcohol Kemp and Irene seemed to have thrown away the dignity with which they had begun the party. Grace was not without her experience of kissing, but her experiences had been boy-and-girl transactions, all the sweeter for their privacy. She wondered whether it might not be necessary for Trenton to kiss her, but instead he rebuked Kemp and Irene with mock severity for their unbecoming conduct.
“You two have no manners! We’re terribly embarrassed on this side of the table.”
“Do excuse us!” cried Kemp. “We were merely carried away by our emotions. I just happened to remember that I hadn’t kissed Irene for a week.”
“Well, you needn’t pull that cave man stuff here,” said Irene petulantly. She opened her vanity box and squinted at herself in the tiny mirror.
“Pardon, everybody, while I powder my nose.”
“Ward’s never been kissed to my knowledge, Grace,” said Kemp, apparently undisturbed by Irene’s complaint of his roughness. “The field’s open to you!”
“Oh, we’re not going to begin in public,” said Grace; “are we Ward?”
She turned smilingly toward Trenton, who met her gaze quizzically.