But when, in an evil moment, I asked to
be allowed to kiss one of them, she could keep herself no longer to
herself. Clambering down from the chair on which she sat perched
to show me, Cornelia-like, her jewels, she ran straight out of the
room and into the bar--it was just across the passage,--and I could
hear her telling her mother in loud tones, but apparently more in
sorrow than in merriment, that THE GENTLEMAN IN THE PARLOUR WANTED
TO KISS DOLLY. I fancy she was determined to save me from this
humiliating action, even in spite of myself, for she never gave me
the desired permission. She reminded me of an old dog I once knew,
who would never suffer the master of the house to dance, out of an
exaggerated sense of the dignity of that master's place and
carriage.
After the young people were gone there was but one more incident
ere I went to bed. I heard a party of children go up and down the
dark street for a while, singing together sweetly. And the mystery
of this little incident was so pleasant to me that I purposely
refrained from asking who they were, and wherefore they went
singing at so late an hour. One can rarely be in a pleasant place
without meeting with some pleasant accident. I have a conviction
that these children would not have gone singing before the inn
unless the inn-parlour had been the delightful place it was.
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