of all the flirtations and adventures I had
while there, or of all the girls who devoted themselves to me. Like
skillful leaders, Miss Loude and Miss Weighty set the example to their
imitators--an example which none were slow to follow. Indeed, it seemed
as if the struggle consisted in seeing who should be first at my feet. I
averaged half a dozen conquests daily: Dick's house was overwhelmed with
lady visitors, and it was usually love at first sight with them all. A
second interview was sufficient to win the most intractable. Not that I
cared to win: I was fatigued with victory--my laurels oppressed me. I
began to wish, like that nobby old emperor, Au--I used to know his
name--that all womankind had but one heart, that I might finish it with
a look, and then turn my attention to more important matters.

Once I thought I had found her. At one of the picnics given in my honor
I saw a sober, pretty little thing, with rosy cheeks and chestnut hair,
who looked intensely rural. I fancied I should like to talk to her alone
for a while, and took her to a spring that was just in sight of the
dancing platform, thinking she would be too timid to go far away from
the others. I found her very sweet and bashful: I could desire nothing
more so. She blushed at each word she said, and made some very innocent
remarks, unfettered by the grammatic rules that restrain less ingenuous
people. Hoping to put her at her ease, I talked about the country, the
beautiful views, and all that.

"If you like lovely views," she said shyly, "I can show you one."

"I shall be most happy to see it," I replied.

To tell you of the walk that the treacherous innocent took me, of the
rocks we climbed and the marshy brooks we crossed, and the two hours she
kept me at the work! Her stock of conversation was exhausted in the
first ten minutes, and I was too angry to be civil. Two hours of such
silent torture man never underwent before, and yet when we returned
tired, with the perspiration rolling down our faces, I actually
overheard her tell one of her companions that it had been "a delightful
walk, I was _so_ agreeable." Just my luck! And that walk made her a
belle! After it all the country beaux flocked around to pay her
attention, and she looked upon them as Cinderella might have viewed her
other suitors after the prince had danced with her at the ball.
Disgusting!

Dick came to me after a while and said, "Charley, you are so stunning in
that velvet coa