be served us as a
moon. For an automobile salesman I was very shy, very humble.

Twice before I had given offense and I was determined if it lay with
me, it would not happen again. I did not hope to interest Miss Briggs
in myself, nor did I let it appear how tremendously I was interested
in her. For the moment I was only a stranger in a strange land making
a social call. I asked Miss Briggs about New Bedford and the whaling,
about the books she sold, and the books she liked. It was she who
talked. When I found we looked at things in the same way and that the
same things gave us pleasure I did not comment on that astonishing fact,
but as an asset more precious than gold, stored it away. When I returned
to the hotel I found that concerning Miss Briggs I had made important
discoveries. I had learned that her name was Polly, that the JOLLY POLLY
had been christened after her grandmother, that she was an orphan, that
there were relatives with whom she did not "hit it off," that she was
very well read, possessed of a most charming sense of humor, and that I
found her the most attractive girl I had ever met.

The next morning I awoke in an exalted frame of mind. I was in love with
life, with New Bedford, and with Polly Briggs. I had been in love before
but never with a young lady who worked in a shop, and I found that
loving a lady so occupied gives one a tremendous advantage. For when you
call she must always be at home, nor can she plead another engagement.
So, before noon, knowing she could not deny herself, I was again at
Hatchardson's, purchasing more postal-cards. But Miss Briggs was not
deceived. Nor apparently was any one else. The BEDFORD MERCURY had told
how, the previous evening, Frederick Fitzgibbon, an automobile salesman
from New York, had been knocked out by an automobile while saving Miss
Polly Briggs from a similar fate; and Mr. Hatchardson and all the old
ladies who were in the bookstore making purchases congratulated me. It
was evident that in Miss Briggs they took much more than a perfunctory
interest. They were very fond of her. She was an institution; and I
could see that as such to visitors she would be pointed out with pride,
as was the new bronze statue of the Whaleman in Court House Square. Nor
did they cease discussing her until they had made it quite clear to me
that in being knocked out in her service I was a very lucky man. I did
not need to be told that, especially as I noted that Miss Briggs was