* * *

A cheek surreptitiously brushed in the dark is preferable to lips
premittedly pressed by day.

* * *

What an extraordinary multiplicity of maneuvers a man will perform for
"Just one kiss!" But

With the precise numerical equivalent of the expression "Just one kiss"
algebra has not yet been found quite able to grapple. It is believed,
however, to belong to Permutations and Combinations.

There is a very decided, but wholly indefinable, line of demarcation
between the kissed and the unkissed woman. In other words,

The "status quo ante exosculationem" can never be re-established:
hitherto the kisses may have been friends; henceforward they may be. . .
they may be . . . . . . But

Who shall say to what kissing may lead? Besides,

Much more kissing than is supposed goes by purchase than by favor. All
which, probably, will be Greek to the uninitiated. Nevertheless, and at
all times, and in all places,

A kiss is like faith: it is "the evidence of things not seen, the
substance of things hoped for."