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you to catch cold.’
He said it with a sigh of relief. He could attempt noth-
ing more that night. But afterwards, when he was alone in
his room, he was furious with himself. He had been a per-
fect fool. He was certain that Miss Wilkinson expected him
to kiss her, otherwise she wouldn’t have come into the gar-
den. She was always saying that only Frenchmen knew how
to treat women. Philip had read French novels. If he had
been a Frenchman he would have seized her in his arms
and told her passionately that he adored her; he would have
pressed his lips on her nuque. He did not know why French-
men always kissed ladies on the nuque. He did not himself
see anything so very attractive in the nape of the neck. Of
course it was much easier for Frenchmen to do these things;
the language was such an aid; Philip could never help feel-
ing that to say passionate things in English sounded a little
absurd. He wished now that he had never undertaken the
siege of Miss Wilkinson’s virtue; the first fortnight had
been so jolly, and now he was wretched; but he was deter-
mined not to give in, he would never respect himself again
if he did, and he made up his mind irrevocably that the next
night he would kiss her without fail.
Next day when he got up he saw it was raining, and his
first thought was that they would not be able to go into
the garden that evening. He was in high spirits at break-
fast. Miss Wilkinson sent Mary Ann in to say that she had
a headache and would remain in bed. She did not come
down till tea-time, when she appeared in a becoming wrap-
per and a pale face; but she was quite recovered by supper,