At the close of four and a half months' hard work, the ladies of a
certain Dorcas Society were so delighted with the completion of a
beautiful silk patchwork quilt for the dear curate that everybody kissed
everybody else, except, of course, the bashful young man himself, who
only kissed his sisters, whom he had called for, to escort home. There
were just a gross of osculations altogether. How much longer would the
ladies have taken over their needlework task if the sisters of the curate
referred to had played lawn tennis instead of attending the meetings? Of
course we must assume that the ladies attended regularly, and I am sure
that they all worked equally well. A mutual kiss here counts as two
osculations.