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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 1904)
. " . . j .' . . .. .. a wmim my ipmiiY- i ii ill uui BpfRR a wora to earn oiner, ror B I ! was English and he -g German, and H I neither knew the language of the other. They " I had no friends In common un'ra on enul.-l Ned Brook a frlmd. Ned Brook was acquaint ed with Mra. Cheshire, Dora Cheshire's aunt and guardian, and of course with Dora. He had Introduced himself to Theo Edelsteln by a piece of friendly good nature. He was sorry for the poor young beggar whose tongue was tied, the disadvantage of the silence being Increased by the state of his health, which the Englishman would have described as " fishy " In the extreme. ' Brook found Edelsteln an eager. Impressionable, Impul sive young fellow, bound for the Cape, from which he was to go up country and start as a farmer. The Idea, of that scarecrow maneuvering with a wagon and a span of oxen, exploiting Kaffir labor, building a log house, and settling down to sow and reap, to rear herds ot cuttle and flocks of sheep, when In six months or less all he would require of mother earth would be summed up In a Travel But as for strenuousness, the word hardly expressed the energy and determination which dwelt In the long bag of bones. Brook could not have believed that so much will power could survive In so shattered and enfeebled a frame But the great bond of union between the two young men and the girl was that they were to be fellow passengers for a time In the Fair Winds. Dora and her aunt with Ned Brook were going on a holiday trip to the Canary Islands. nd Edelsteln was on his way to the Cape. "If the unfortunate chap does not kick the bucket before he sees the shore again," said Brook lightly. In discussing the ailing passenger with the ladles during his last call at their hotel, " I shall be astonished." .Mrs. Cheshire was roused Into a protest "Ah. I hope he won't die before we reach the Canaries. I think he ought not to be allowed to come Into the saloon. I will spenk to the captain the first thing. We will hold this miserable Mr. Edelsteln at arm's length." But her aunt's careful arrangement was exactly that which Dora did not choose to follow. She contrived to slip away from her relative and to seat herself with an air of perfect Innocence between Brook and Edelsteln. Once seated she said it was " very nice" where she was and declined to be dislodged. " I don't mind," Dora told herself, " though Aunt Ches hire and people In general count me forward and Insubor dinateand pretend that I have laid myself out to engross the attention of a couple of young men a couple did 1 say? A man and a half a man so sick as this poor German Is only half a man; but at least he shall have somebody who wlil not shrink from him, who will look kindly at him, and be attentive In passing him the salt and the mustard. I wish I could do more. Ah I I know; I will get Mr. Brook to speak Gorman across me to him, so that a forlorn Invalid, cour ageous enough to venture on exile, may not feel himself utterly Jonely" At the first luxurious, elaborate dinner Dora, sitting dumb beside her right hand neighbor, could at least beam upon him till his gaunt face and sunken blight blue eyes were lit up with half puzxled and eager admiration. She 1 1 ! 1 c i film nltK ivart tnAthnm Jntni I- hnl ..uiu.. ...... .....a . . J .uvviiauuiu uf,,,lv ... iilOll VIUll.ll.tr, making expressive signs of what she held most worthy of his patronage. At the time she wondered which was good and which was bad for him. She took It for granted that It was con sumption which had left him a walking skeleton. She had henrd that one of the last accredited cures was feeding the sufferers up. She did her best by expressive.. looks and en couraging smiles to get the scarecrow to begin to stuff himself. She shook her head disapprovingly when he de clined oysters. She made the waiter pause significantly at Kdelsteln's shoulder with a chocolate cream. ' t " Take care, Miss Dora," said Ned Brook warnlngly. ' "Vhat are you, too, frightened for tnfoctlon?" she de manded scornfully, while both speakers were unfettered In their discourse because of the dead wall which Edelsteln's practical ignorance of English had erected between him and .them. " Not particularly," be answered with a laugh, V but there are other dangers quite as deadly. I have heard that for pure blind conceit this kind of unfortunate beggar is unequuled. Don't play tip to his vanity.' Dora with a pretty little will of her own was not only undeterred by Ned Brook's caution, she was , confirmed by it in he)r cares for the Invalid. When he was not able to Join In the game of quotti arid shovelboard which the passengers played on deck, she man aged to spare him the mortification cf helplessness by stand ing looking on with him. as If his pasKiveness was not due to Incapacity, tut to the duty of attending to a lady, albeit It had to bo In dumb show. She challenged him to games of backgammon, draughts, and dominoes in quiet, ' sheltered corners,. She hunted up " The Buchhols Family " and other modern German classics In the original from the polyglot library, and laid them before him with Ingenuous triumph. Theo Edelsteln would have been the basest of Ingratea If e had not responded to the tender, generous compassion ot the young girl, the picture of health who had never beeu 111 In her life, with whom he had not exchanged a word. He was no Ingrate, He was touched to the core of his romantic- honest heart To be with her to look at her seemed to do him good, to transplant some of her abounding vitality and vigor Into his faintness and lassitude. He pulled himself together, held up his head, and In spite of the fever flush on his cheek bones and the baneful lire In his eyes looked twice the man he had looked when he came on board. The Fair Winds was nearlng the Canaries. Mrs. Cheshire was so much In advance that she was Interviewing the ster ardess and the man who had charge of seeing the luggage on shore. " Then In the middle of the bustle and commotion Ned Brook came In search of Dora Cheshire. He found her standing watching for the boats coming out with fresh fruit and vegetables. She had a disengaged air Just tinged with the excitement of .andlng. He 'looked half provoked, half pitiful, with a stirring sense of waggish amusement getting the better of both provocation and pltlfulnesa. . "I told you so. Miss Dora, you have been and gone and, done It You must come with me to the saloon, which at the present moment Is empty except for one Individual You must pay the penalty you have Incurred. Tou must' come. Tou owe It to the 111 fated mortal whom you have enticed and deluded to the bad quarter of an hour in which his ees will be opened." " What do you mean?" aha asked, remaining where she was, but opening her eyes more widely. " 11 err Edelsteln desires me as a third party acquainted With the language to act between you two as Interpreter." What doea he want?" Inquired Dora, beginning to move towards the stairs. M He means nothing less," said Brook, " than to make you an effer of marriage by, the Hps of your humble servant" Dora fairly Jumped and then stood rooted to the spot Impossible," she cried. " Tou must have misunderstood him, Mr. Brook, such an Insane, ghastly, idea could never have entered Into his head." " Fact I assure you, granted that it nearly took my breath away when he broached it to me." " Tell him It la out of the question. It is preposterous It Is the next thing to an insult," declared Dora hotly. " I will not go down, I will not put myself Into such a ridic ulous, affronting position. Tou must explain this for me and make him understand." "That Is exactly what I cannot do," he said, more grave ly than be had hitherto spokes. " Tou are seeing the thing from the woman's point of view only, as your sex Is apt to da Tou must look at It from the man's side also. Think of his mortification, of his disappointment when he has worked himself up to the pitch of making this proposal not to speak of the delicate state of his health about which you have been so much concerned!" There was a grain of ma licious mischief in the emphasis with which be uttered the last words. " If I had thought that he was equal to anything of the kind!" protested Dora Indignantly. "Don't tell me that he ever Imagined I was leading him on to this folly," she for-' ba le Brook vehemently, " else I shall not only not see him, I shall be tempted not to forgive you." "How grossly unjust) and you must see hlm-he la en i titled to that grace. Tou misled him quite unintentionally, no doubt, still the truth remains. Had It not been so do you think that even a romantlo, passlgnate lad as dogged . is he Is passionate, and in the fever of his pitiable state of liiealth, would be so far left to himself as to pester you, at jxucb a moment with such a suit and to press me Into his "-rvtcef He has transferred his own feelings to you. He uncles not only that you In your grand generosity ' and f exquisite sympathy have 'stooped to care for a poor fel low In bis humiliated condition 'his own words, I iwurt ou. but that you will set the seal on your goodness by con venting to become his bride. (A German bride or brant you 1 must know not necessarily as In England a newly wedded !fe, merely an engaged girl who tuay huve to wait a doaen L3y & years before she la a married woman, and wait faithfully all the same.) He Is under the delusion that you (being one of those wrong headed, devoted angels, nhora poets and men of his kidney And among women) like him well enough to follow him (he would have followed you to the world s end In other circumstances) to the Cape, to trek up country after him, and when some Dutch pastor haa made you man and wife, to be contented to find your happiness In r.urslng him back to health as If that were not a desperate Job. There you are to work with him, a household drudge, a notable farmer's wife, without a civilised creature, save himself, o speak to far and near (and even to speak to him you must pick up Oerman), without a decent shop to enter, without a log built church In which to say your prayers. Assuredly our friend Is not ' blate.' as the Scotch say." "Friend! I do not count madmen among my friends. He Is beside himself," declared Dora, with uncompromising, severity.- " Beside himself? Tes. with unrequited love only he does not dream that It la unrequited, with the enthusiasm which we call gush,' and the weakness consequent on the poor sinner's Illness. And I must warn you. Miss Dora, that If you were the Infatuated being he thinks you, If you gave up for his sake every worldly prospect every Intellectual satisfaction, and every family tie, I believe by sheer dint o will he would fight off death, he would live'on and chent you for years of the deliverance which widowhood might bring to you." She said nothing for a moment, standing silent, with a face from which the rich color had fled, with knitted brows, and set lips. Then she spoke abruptly. "I will go down with you, Mr. Brook, slnoe you think he Is entitled to my presence on the occasion, only let us get through with the the horrid ordeal as speedily as possible." She walked down the stairs and entered the saloon with her head held high and pride and scorn In every line of her figure and lineament of her face. She had said he had In sulted her more, he had cruelly wronged her In the mistake he had made. He had abused her womanly good will, dis torting It in his foo41sh fancy, and employing It as a weapon against her. He was compelling her to endure a detestably painful, awkward, grotesque ten minutes. He was standing near the door of the saloon as she en tered. He bowed low with a foreigner's Instinctive gesture of the hand to the heart, which Indicates, profoundest homage. She met his eager eyes devouring her, and tendering to her grateful thanks for her Infinite condescension In com plying with his daring summons, with a slight bend of her head, and a resentful glance. It wavered and fell before his ardent regard, while her heart suffered a sharp pang and sank like lead In her breast. Two saloon chairs had been drawn forward for Dora and Ned Brook. Edelsteln took up his position on the other side of Brook, standing there, as at once the boldest and the humblest of petitioners. Brook accepted the arrangement until he remarked how Dora, who had come in with a rigid air, was beginning to fidget uneasily, as if she would rise from her chair; for she waa,saylng to herself, as he soon guessed, " I am angry and I do well to be angry, but I would not for worlds sit here and hurt him in that way. It would be mean to force him to realize his weakness. He cannot stand there and be agi tated and argue the matter . as a strong man would." Ned Brook comprehended, got up, and pulled forward another chair, saying hastily to Edelsteln. " Tou had better sit down, you are not up to much, and this must be a trying explanation for you." The suitor sat down on the other side of Brook, who was between him and .Dora, and for a moment sank back with a forced sigh of relief for welcome ' rest. The next instant he was bending forward with Intense earnestness and speak ing some eloquent words In his mother tongue, with glowing eyes fixed upon Dora, who turned away Impatiently. " He says," Interpreted Brook with a carefully repressed grin, " that his proper place, which he Is ready to assume. Is on his knees at your feet." "O! don't let him! For mercy's sake prevent him!" cried Dora In real trepidation, catching hold of her countryman's arm. Edelsteln had cast a glance of mystified annoyance at Ned Brook when Dora's action appealing for Brook's inter vention met his eye. "Good heavens! the beggar is prepared to be Jealous," murmured Ned half audibly, putting up bis hand to conceal the telltale mouth of a laughing face. Dora understood both the murmur and the movement, and drew herself up In a statelier pose, which implied a mixture of reproach and displeasure. Theo Edelsteln was speaking again. It was forcible speech from pale Hps which trembled under, the burden of It " He confesses he haa nothing to give you save his love, but that Is so great It surpasses even the love of women. It will surmount every obstacle.. In the future It will wrap you round like a mantle, it will shield and shroud yau from every genuine trouble and sorrow, even though you have to face hardship and loneliness by his side." "O, that Is enough!" protested Dora, bowing her head to hide her blushes, and clasping her hands In futile vex ation. " Leave out anything else of the kind. Tell him straight out that I have not had a thought of love and mar riage In connection with him. O! I am ashamed to speak of such a thing. Say, if you like, that so far as I can Judge I am not a marrying woman. Impress upon him that even if I were willing, and I am not willing, my aunt would never consent to my taking such a step. Why, she has not so much as spoken to nim. Say that I am English and pro vincial to the last degree. Thlstrlp to the Canaries Is only a holiday excursion, nothing could Induce me to quit my country for a permanency, or to unite myself to a foreigner not though we were the only man and woman left In the world. For I know when we came Into close quarters every prepossession' and prejudice would be different and we could not dwell together In peace." She delivered her de cision not with calm, cold deliberation but with exasperated rapidity, looking down at her bands which sheysat clasping tightly In her lap. The man whose sentence she was thus glibly pronouncing could not follofr a word she said, but be could read her face In a measure. He never lifted his eyes from It he sat gazing at her with beseeching yearning. It took some time for Ned Brook to translate her answer, softening its inflexible harshness, so as to render It as little hurtful to Its recipient's feelings as It could be made. To the surprise alike of the original speaker and of the Interpreter Edelsteln was not silenced nor even seriously rebuffed by the refusal it was as if be would take no refusal. He grew pale to wanness certainly. But he said Dora was shy; was frightened, she was Ignorant and inexperienced In her proud maldenliness, she could not understand, her own heart or his how could she when this was the first time his great love had been put Into words for her hearing, and that alas! by the lips of another many " Do not say another word," gasped Dora, no longer dlo tatlng, but Imploring as she sprang up, " He Is raving. Bid h'ta goodftjy from me," she said more gently. " Tell him I wish him well, and that I trust he will regain his health In the milder air at the Cape. I hope he will prosper and be a great stockholder and a mighty farmer. I suppose there are mighty farmer as well as mighty hunters, and O, after that, come away," Brook obeyed her, and added on bis own account, " I am sorry. Edelsteln. but time Is up. Miss Cheshire Is on the point of landing with her aunt, and so. for that matter, am L I think I hear the bell warning those who are going ashore. Good -by. old fellow, and permit me to wish you better luck another time." Theo Edelsteln stopped his remonstrance and fell Into silence. He rose with aa effort, and grasping the back of his chair bowed low once more to Dora, and hell out a shadowy hand to her companion, In recognition of an obligation and as a sign that he bore no malice. It appeared to the two. on looking bark, that be had tried to conjure up the flicker of a pathetically forgiving, friendly smile where they left him Handing, supporting himself wearily Id the solitude of the saloon. "Queer medieval beggarl" remarked Ned Brook, while Dora hung her head and said nothing. Tears pasEed. Time and change did their best and their worst for the actors In the little drama on board the' good ship Fair Winds. Mrs. Cheshire had died suddenly, leaving no will (for wills are unpleasant topics to deal with when the testatrix Is In health). In this Instance the negligence was disastrous, for there was a nearer relative than Dora who, though he had been a reprobate, refused admission to Mrs. Cheshire's house, did not on that account forfeit his legal birthright Dora found herself without a penny of her aunt's property, while she had nothing to expect from the generosity of the heir. She rose to the occasion, and secured a situation In one oil those establishments to supplement the board schools, as a day helper. Her salary Just sufficed to furnish her with food and clothing and a fairly comfortable lodging In one of the streets between the east and the west ends ot London. Soon the novelty of Dora's Independence and hard work passed away. A certain reaction followed. She was as brave and resolute as ever, but the world grew occasionally drao colored. She could not help wondering what was to become of her In sickness and old age. It was a cheerless prospect accentuated by the spin pat tering against the window panes, the dull little side street . dreary as well as dull. Suddenly there rose up before her a vivid remembrance of the far away Islands, their sunshine, their moonlight their half tropical vegetation, their dark eyed population,- and their blue sea setting. It was the setting more than the Jewels. It enclosed to which Dora's memory clung. Herr Theo Edelsteln not Ned Brook filled the foreground of Dora's mental vision. Had Vie been dead for half a score of years? Had he died at sea as she and others had thought possible? Did he remember her to the last? Was he loving her through eternity as he.' had vowed he would love her? His declaration had only shocked end aftronted her. His ardor, so out of place In a dying man, had simply distressed her, and beyond the shock and the distress there had been an exasperating fringe of unwilling, urusrelcome, half hysterical laughter at the absurdity of hav ing a proposal of marriage, and such a proposal, 'so passion ately pled, translated by a third party In the presence of the two persons principally concerned. She had not believed Edelsteln's representation of 'his feelings. She could not realize them. They were Incredible, and in the circumstances utterly distasteful to her a profana tion of what ought to have been a dying man's sentiments. - But after the lapse of time In the altered world lb wtyeh Dora moved, and the altered woman she' Was, She befleved him, she recognized that he had spoken the truth of the iSS T the early age of 30 I settled down to a life of AX . I single blessedness on my patrimonial estate. I jCSl I had seen life and the world In every phase and . I climate and congratulated myself on b?lng through with storms, literal and figurative. . This idyllic existence was rudely Interrupt ed by the rising of the widow above my horizon When she burst upon my vision the history of 9 the world recommend. For a day and a night I was das s'.ed. stupefied, and when I fearned that her lands adjoined mine I knew by Instinct that It was all up with me. I am not one .of those who struggle against their passions snd for my expected tranquillity I nad counted not on my will, but on freedom from temptation. So I let myself go. I visited my neighbor and did not conoeal from her the feeling with which she had Inspired me. Accustomed to admiration and declarations ot love, she re ceived mine calmly, but replied: " I shall never marry again. My husband was the best of men and I loved him dearly. That la enough for one life." And when I urged, pleaded, protested with the energy of sudden passion she smiled and said: , " What a tyrant you would be! No, I wish to be free." ' She was a Creole of NVw Orleans and possessed the soft languorous beauty that even In Its decline, made another Creole widow, Josephine Beauharnala. so Irresistible. But my widow was only 24 and yet in the perfect bloom of youth. Her late buaband, aa American railway promoter, bad left Sa value of the love she had rejected, which it would have been Impossible for her to accept No worldly advantage would weigh a thistle down In the scale against such love as she had inspired once but once in her life. Like the blossom of the aloe it could only be counted upon to appear at rare Intervals, to a few individuals. How strange and sad that when the. precious gift was offered to her it was In connec tion with a situation which precluded any chance of Ita telng taken even If she had been worthier of It! But it wis not of herself she thought, beyond the fact that she was haunted with an aching regret for not having been kinder, more forbearing. What did It matter? What could her gratitude or in gratitude signify to a disembodied spirit, which had long ago entered into eternity, and been employed, she trusted. In heavenly praise and heavenly work for a longer period than that In which she had taken up her life task in earnest. Dora waa disturbed in the look Bhe bad cast backwards by her landlady's voice speaking to somebody on the door mat ' "Tes, sir; Miss Cheshire Is at home. Will you please to walk In? " "Give her my card." The second voice spoke wkh a foreign accent To whom could It belong? It was a big man who was shown in, and, seeing that he was there In propria personas Dora laid down the card without looking at It, and waited for the stranger to tell his errand. I He loomed almost gigantic In his long ulster and the broad felt hat he held in his brown hands.' He seemed to fill the little room to the blotting out of Dora herself a tall woman. "O! (he pronounced It ach ') Miss Cheshire." He hailed her by her name, adding with .lingering emphasis "at lastl " She had only listened to that voice for any length of time on one former occasion, but Its tones thrilled her with a sense of some sound she had heard and been Impressed tr. In the past In the same way the face, hugely changed, broadened, bearded, of a hale weather beaten tan, and the cornflower blue eyes with the glint of steel In their keenness and strenuousness struck her as strangely, dlstractlngly fa miliar. "Do you not know me?" he was asking her, with tender reproach," which no amount of respectful restraint could alto gether check, vibrating through his guttural accents. " I would have known you among a thousand. Why, of course, I am Theo Edelsteln." " No, no, It cannot be," she gasped, putting out her hands , in a desperate Impulse, as If she would thrust away from her the dead come alive again of whom she had been idly dream- :i - - cssceseeesessssssessssesseesss ofc '-v; ; . . . her a large forty ne. which she appeared anxious to exchange fir French eolLt After purchasing the estate adjoining mine sho successively acquired other properties until she threat ened to surround and Ingulf me. One day she said: " Tou have a jqvely bit of forest that makes an ugly Jos, in my line. I will give, you a hundred thousand francs for It " " It is not fur sale to you," I replied. " Take it If you want it." She raised her eyebrows and her shoulders and dropped the. subject, but returned to It next day In the billiard room of old Count Lavilleuce, whom she had Just defeated, for she was an excellent player, for a woman. " Come," she said, " I will play you for a promise to sell against that picture by Dlrlks that you covet so." Then I lost my bead and answered: "No, but I will stake the forest against a kiss!" She looked at me more in amusement than In anger. " Tou are Joking," she said. " Am I? Tou know I would gladly sell the forest for a kiss, but I know you would not consent to the change. So let us play for them." " I have half a mind to taite you up," she laughed. ' "You dare not!" I cried, tor I knew her temper. "O, I dare not?" she cried. "Very well. We will make the game 800 points." It was a fine game, for we were well matched, and. having sv much at stake, played our best For my part I swear that I'thought only of the kiss, not of ths forest The game lng this morning. " Tou were desperately 111 ten years ago. II Is an age since you must have " "Died?" He finished the broken sentence, catching and holding the hands that would have pushed the vision of him beyond touch. " Nothing of the kind. I reached my destina tion. - The fresh air and the sunshine suited me. I recovered from my ague, which I know some of you thought was a galloping consumption. I remembered you always as I said I would. I have learned English. I should have written but I feared to put my fortunes to the test of' paper. Had they not failed when they were urged by another man'a tongue? I would plead my own cause, and If you were still free (If you had uled I should have known it) you might yield, you might still be mine. I would do all that I had promised to v do. Tou had wished that I might be a mighty stockholder and farmer. I have oxen by thousands and sheep by tens of thousands. I have many a field of nodding grain ana barns, to receive it My house Is built and furnished and standing waiting tor Its mistress; your garden la laid out like the English gardens English women delight In. Our next neighbor Is an Oxford man who took honors at his college as I did at mine, but his health also gave way and he, too, was fain to turn to primitive nature as the rreat healer she Is, and ' to lead the life of an old patriarch, throwing his books and papers overboard. But we are not without books, i have laid the foundation of a library I shall do as he does every time he goes to the nearest town. He brings back for him self and for his young wife a bishop's daughter books and magazines, as well as new music, and pretty dresses as I shall bring for my wife when I have won her. Our neighbors on the other aide are a dear old German couple who nursed me when I first arrived, and have been like a father and mother to me. I have told them that If I take you back you will be another daughter to them as I am another son. Will you come, my one and only love, and make my Ufa and my borne complete?" " I I cai.not tell," she faltered. " Tou have taken me so by surprise.. It Is not a couple ot hours ago since I thought of you as long dead. In one light you are an utter stranger to me. Recollect this Is the first time we have spoken to gether. In another sense I seem to know you well, and to owe you a mountalnload of gratitude for thinking of me so much oftener and better than I nave deserved, and for for giving me for the harshness of your dismissal in the dining saloon of the Fair Winds." " There was nothing to forgive," be said, simply. How could there be forgiveness between you and me? And the second light Is the true light you do know me you will come to me, my gift from God?" "The gift Is mutual," she said, speaking softly, "If there Is any meaning In the name common to us both." J. J. R,osnu. went on with alternate advantage until she had scored 200 tc my 283. Then I made a run of sixteen with ease and stopped, balked by a difficult shot, within one point of vic tory. She nlso, after running up to 20ft. found herself con fronted by an awkward' configuration, but the shot was so much easier than some which she had made that I gave up the game for lost She aimed carefully and steadily, played and missed by a hair's breadth! I waited half a minute before playing, for my bands trembled so that I could hardly hold the cue. It was sn easy shot but not for me at that moment My ball caromed lightly on the light red, advanced timidly for the dark, and Just kissed It! "Ah, I have lost!" she exclaimed, with a nervous laugh. " Well. I will pay In half an hour. In the grove." She ran away, blushing, and soon I saw her strolling, with careful carelessness, toward the grove. It was a long half hour though I shortened It by ten minutes. In the sacred grove she came to me without a word and frankly and loyally offered her sweet lips. When I raised my head I saw that she was pale. She trembled snd laid a hand on my shoulder as If for support. Then she laughed softly and whispered: "It wasn't fair, you know. I ought to have made that Shot I I cheated!" So, though she lost she won not the forest alone, but lta owner and all his worldly goods, while be won not merely one pour kiss, but bliss prolonged. 1 i