"Of course she should not have led him on if she did not want to be kissed. She certainly came very near chucking him under the chin. A girl can't expect a man to withstand temptation forever. Just because a man is looked upon as a gray-bearded loon is no sign he feels like one."
The others had gone on ahead and were standing under the monument of Sergeant Jasper, who was still patiently pointing to Fort Moultrie.
"Do you think it is a girl's fault always if a man kisses her?"
"Well, no, not exactly. I certainly don't think it is a girl's fault for being kissable—but it seems to me her instinct might tell her when she is getting too kissable and she might—wear a veil—or do something to protect the poor man a little."
"Why should he not put on smoked glasses or look the other way? I can't see that it is up to the poor palmetto."
"Perhaps you are right," he said, more soberly, it seemed to me, than the conversation warranted. "I am going to Columbia tomorrow," rather sullenly.
"Are you, really? Tweedles and I are going to miss you terribly. We do wish you didn't have to go."
"'We'! Can't you ever say I? Do you have to lump yourself with Dum and Dee about everything?"
What a funny, cross Zebedee this was! I looked at him in amazement. He was quite wild-eyed, with a look on his face that was new to me. If I had not known that he was a teetotaler, or almost one, I might have thought he had been drinking. I must have presented a startled appearance, for in a moment he pulled himself together.
"Excuse me, Page! I think the moon must have gone to my head. The full moon makes me act queer sometimes, anyhow. You have heard of persons like that, haven't you? That's where lunatic got its name—Luna, the moon, you know," he rattled on at a most astonishing pace. "How old do you reckon Mrs. Green is? She looks very young. Do you think Professor Green is as old as I am?"