ent instead into the little recess and sat down on the
rose-colored sofa, side by side, and without saying a word for a long
time. Such music demanded silence, especially when listened to in such
a setting. And the rose-colored lights threw the softest sort of glow
all over them.

Mr. Bennet reclined a little in his corner of the sofa, with his feet
gracefully outstretched and his ankles crossed, his arms folded,
watching Arethusa, for her head was downcast and turned away from him,
and she could not know that he was watching her. He smiled a bit as he
always did whenever he watched her this way when she was not noticing.

But Arethusa may have felt his look, although she did not turn around
to really see it, or it may have been those shy little thoughts of him
which were at the moment filling her head which caused it, for a soft
flush suddenly ran all over her neck, and even up behind her ears. Mr.
Bennet's smile broadened, perceptibly.

If anyone had asked him just then what he thought of Arethusa, he would
have said that she was a very pretty girl, in his opinion; the
prettiest girl, in fact, that he had known for some time. Mr. Bennet
had even found himself wondering, on several occasions lately, if he
was not beginning to think too much of Arethusa and her prettiness;
just a little bit more than was quite wise, from his own point of view.
There was very open admiration in his face as he studied her now. He
noticed the tiny curls at the back of her neck, warm from dancing to be
twisted in the tightest little rings; they were the most babyish
looking little curls he had ever seen, he thought. And he distinctly
liked that proud little way she carried her head. He moved just a
trifle, then, so that he could see more of her face; how her
extraordinarily long lashes swept her cheek, and her adorable nose,
which was ever so slightly retroussee. Timothy, in some of those
moments when Arethusa was inclined to be most trying, had called it a
"pug nose," but Mr. Bennet's ideas were much more poetical. And he
could see her mouth, with her red lips curved in a slight smile;
Arethusa had a very pretty mouth.

And then quite suddenly, without himself having any really preconceived
idea that he was going to do such a thing, Mr. Bennet leaned over and
kissed Arethusa. He kissed her square on her sweet mouth.

And almost immediately, he kissed her the second time.

Arethusa had been startled by his first kiss, very naturally;