have his arm round a waist every one
else envied him. One student was prettily trying a pair of new gloves
upon his little woman's hand. Here and there blithe songs would spring
up, from sheer gladness of heart; and never was such a buzz of happy
young people, not even at a Sunday-school treat. To me it seemed
absolutely Arcadian, and I thought of Daphnis and Chloe and the early
world. Nothing indecorous or gross; all perfectly pretty and seemly.

On our way home Semiramis was so sweet to me, in her innocent, artless
frankness, that I went to bed with an intoxicating feeling that I must
be irresistible indeed, to have so completely conquered so true a heart
in so few hours. I was the more flattered because I am not a vain man,
and am not, like some, accustomed to take hearts as the Israelites took
Jericho with the blast of one's own trumpet.

But, alas! my dream of universal irresistibility was but short-lived,
for next afternoon, as William and I sat out at some cafe together, I
found myself the object of chaff.

"Well," said William, "how goes the love-affair?"

I flushed somewhat indignantly at his manner with sanctities.

"I see!" he said, "I see! You are already corded and labelled, and
will be shipped over by the next mail,--'To Miss Semiramis Wilcox, 1001
99th St., Philadelphia, U.S.A. Man with care.' Well, I did think
you'd got an eye in your head. Look here, don't be a fool! I suppose
she said you were the first and last. The last you certainly were.
There are limits even to the speed of American girls; but the first, my
boy! You are more like the twelfth, to my ocular knowledge. Here
comes Dubois the poet. He can tell you something about Miss Semiramis.
Eh! Dubois, you know Miss Semiramis Wilcox, don't you?"

The Frenchman smiled and shrugged.

"Un peu," he said.

"Don't be an ass and get angry," William continued; "it's all for your
own good."

"The little Semiramis has been seducing my susceptible friend here.
Like many of us, he has been captivated by her naturalness, her
naivete, her clear good eyes,--that look of nature that is always art!
May I relate the idyl of your tragic passion, dear Dubois, as an object
lesson?"

The Frenchman bowed, and signed William to proceed.

"You dined with us one evening, and you thus met for the first time.
You sat together at table. What happened with the fish?"

"She swore I was the most beautiful man she had ever seen,--and I am
not beautifu