like a man and act your best. That's the sort of treatment
a fellow enjoys and ought to get if he behaves himself; not frowns and
cold shoulders year in and year out, and made to look like a fool when
he means well, and is faithful, and has loved a girl ever since he was a
boy. No, by Jove, it's not fair, and I won't stand it!'

Tom waxed warm and eloquent as he thought over his wrongs, and bounced
up to march about the room, wagging his head and trying to feel
aggrieved as usual, but surprised to find that his heart did not ache a
bit.

'I wouldn't. Drop the old fancy, for it was nothing more, and take up
the new one, if it is genuine. But how came you to propose, Tom, as you
must have done to be engaged?' asked Mrs Jo, impatient for the crisis of
the tale.

'Oh, that was an accident. I didn't mean it at all; the donkey did it,
and I couldn't get out of the scrape without hurting Dora's feelings,
you see,' began Tom, seeing that the fatal moment had come.

'So there were two donkeys in it, were there?' said Mrs Jo, foreseeing
fun of some sort.

'Don't laugh! It sounds funny, I know; but it might have been awful,'
answered Tom darkly, though a twinkle of the eye showed that his love
trials did not quite blind him to the comic side of the adventure.

'The girls admired our new wheels, and of course we liked to show off.
Took 'em to ride, and had larks generally. Well, one day, Dora was
on behind, and we were going nicely along a good bit of road, when a
ridiculous old donkey got right across the way. I thought he'd move, but
he didn't, so I gave him a kick; he kicked back, and over we went in a
heap, donkey and all. Such a mess! I thought only of Dora, and she had
hysterics; at least, she laughed till she cried, and that beast brayed,
and I lost my head. Any fellow would, with a poor girl gasping in the
road, and he wiping her tears and begging pardon, not knowing whether
her bones were broken or not. I called her my darling, and went on like
a fool in my flurry, till she grew calmer, and said, with such a look:
"I forgive you, Tom. Pick me up, and let us go on again."

'Wasn't that sweet now, after I'd upset her for the second time? It
touched me to the heart; and I said I'd like to go on for ever with such
an angel to steer for, and--well I don't know what I did say; but you
might have knocked me down with a feather when she put her arm round my
neck and whispered: "Tom, dear, with you I'm not afraid of any lion