“I love you!  I love you!” he murmured for the nineteenth time.  “Speak!  Answer me!”

The maiden coyly hung her head.

“I—­oh, Tom, this is so sudden!” she pleaded.

He drew her close to him.

“Don’t be afraid, darling!” he said gently.  “Would you like me to ask your mother first?”

With a sudden cry of alarm she threw her arms around his neck.

“No, no!” she gasped.  “Mother is a widow.  I want you myself!”

“Yes, she rejected me, but she did it in a most encouraging way.”

“How was that?”

“As I went away, she pointed to the footprints that I had made on the carpet, and said:  ’The next time you come to propose to me, I want you to wipe your shoes clean!’”

Long had he worshipped her at a distance, but his shyness prevented him from proposing.  Then, one evening, for the sake of sweet charity, a theatrical performance took place, in which the charmer was leading lady and more adorable than ever.  Afterward the shy admirer drew near, his love made valiant by the sight of her beauty.  “You are the star of the evening,” he said as they stood alone in a corner.

“You are the first to tell me so,” said the damsel with a happy blush.

“Then,” he retorted promptly, “may I not claim my reward as an astronomer?”

The lady looked puzzled.  “What reward?” she asked.

“Why, the right to give my name to the star I have discovered!”

“So you want to marry Alice, do you?” asked the girl’s father of her young man.

“Very much indeed,” replied the youth.

“Can you support a family?”

The young man reflected a moment, and then asked, “How many are there of you, sir?”

FRANK—­“When you proposed to her I suppose she said:  ’This is so sudden?’”

ERNEST—­“No, she was honest and said:  ’This suspense has been terrible.’”

One evening some time since John Henry called on the darling of his heart, and while talking to the fair one he casually referred to some of the hardships of the present day.

“I see, Gladys,” he remarked, “that the price of coal has gone up again, and that it is hard to get at any price.”

“Has it?” responded Gladys, without showing any great concern.

“Yes,” answered John Henry, “and they say they are also advancing house rents, while sugar—­”

“Look here, John Henry!” suddenly interjected the fair one, with a withering expression.  “If you want to break off our engagement, say so, but don’t try to beat around the bush in such a cowardly way.”

“Will you have me for your wife?” said the leap-year maiden, sweetly.

“Since you have suggested it, I will,” he replied.  “But just remember, Mame, if I don’t turn out to be all you expect you have only yourself to blame.”

The pretty girl of the party was bantering the genial bachelor on his reasons for remaining single.