orrow; praying that to her,
as to him, there was no pain but instead a rapture in the sting of her
lips, as her teeth cut a little into them.... A kiss--thing that the
polite novels sketch as a second's unbodied bliss--how human it was,
with teeth and lips to consider; common as eating--and divine as
martyrdom. His lips were saying to her things too vast and extravagant
for a plain young man to venture upon in words:

"Lady, to you I chant my reverence and faith everlasting, in such
unearthly music as the angels use when with lambent wings they salute
the marching dawn." Such lyric tributes, and an emotion too subtle to
fit into any words whatever, his lips were saying....

Then she was drawing back, rending the kiss, crying, "You're almost
smothering me!"

With his arms easily about her, but with her weight against his
shoulder, they and their love veiled from the basket-parties by the
darkness, he said, quiveringly: "See, my arms are a little house for
you, just as my hand was a little house for your hand, once. My arms
are the walls, and your head and mine together are the roof."

"I love the little house."

"No. Say, 'I love _you_."'

"No."

"Say it."

"No."

"Please----"

"Oh, Hawk dear, I couldn't even if--just now, I do want to say it, but
I want to be fair. I am terribly happy to be in the house of Hawk's
arms. I'm not afraid in it, even out here on the dark dunes--which
Aunt Emma wouldn't--somehow--approve! But I do want to be fair to you,
and I'm afraid I'm not, when I let you love me this way. I don't want
to hurt you. Ever. Perhaps it's egotistical of me, but I'm afraid you
would be hurt if I let you kiss me and then afterward I decided I
didn't love you at all."

"But can't you, some day----"

"Oh, I don't know, I don't _know_! I'm not sure I know what love is.
I'm not sure it's love that makes me happy (as I really am) when you
kiss me. Perhaps I'm just curious, and experimenting. I was quite
conscious, when you kissed me then; quite conscious and curious; and
once I caught myself wondering for half a second what train we'd take.
I was ashamed of that, but I wasn't ashamed of taking mental notes and
learning what these 'kisses,' that we mention so glibly, really are.
Just experimenting, you see. And if you were _too_ serious about our
kiss, it wouldn't be at all fair to you."

"I'm glad you're frank, blessed, and I guess I understand pretty well
how you feel, but, after all, I'm fairly s