I'd no idea the old fellow was
so sly, for he appeared smashed with you, you know, and there he was
finishing up with this unknown lady. I wish you could have heard him
go on, with tears in his eyes"--
"How do you know if you didn't see him?"
"Oh, well, that's only a figure of speech; I thought so from his
voice. He was ever so tender, and took to Dutch when English was too
cool for him. It was really touching, for I never heard a fellow do
it before; and, upon my word, I should think it was rather a tough
job to say that sort of thing to a pretty woman, mask or no mask."
"What did she say?" asked Dolly, with her hands pressed tight
together, and a curious little quiver of the lips.
"She said, No, as short as pie-crust; and when he rushed out with
his heart broken all to bits apparently, she just burst out
laughing, and went and polked at a two-forty pace for half an hour."
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. unclasped her hands, took a
long breath, and cried out,--
"She was a wicked, heartless hussy! and if I know her, I'll never
speak to her again; for if he was really in earnest, she ought to be
killed for laughing at him."
"So ought you, then, for making fun of poor Fisher when he went down
on his knees behind the huckleberry bushes last summer. He was
earnest enough, for he looked as black-and-blue as his berries when
he got home. Your theory is all right, ma'am, but your practice is
all bosh.
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