he escorted triumphantly to the conservatory. She did no harm to
his work--rather sent him back to it refreshed. It was as if he were
shooting the sentiment which other young men get rid of more gradually
by beginning earlier, and there were such accumulations of it that I
don't know whether he ever made up on them. Punishment sought him in
the night, when he dreamed constantly that he was married--to whom
scarcely mattered; he saw himself coming out of a church a married
man, and the fright woke him up. But with the daylight came again his
talent for dodging thoughts that were lying in wait, and he yielded as
recklessly as before to every sentimental impulse. As illustration,
take his humourous passage with Mrs. Jerry. Geraldine Something was
her name, but her friends called her Mrs. Jerry.

She was a wealthy widow, buxom, not a day over thirty when she was
merry, which might be at inappropriate moments, as immediately after
she had expressed a desire to lead the higher life. "But I have a
theory, my dear," she said solemnly to Elspeth, "that no woman is able
to do it who cannot see her own nose without the help of a mirror."
She had taken a great fancy to Elspeth, and made many engagements with
her, and kept some of them, and the understanding was that she
apprenticed herself to Tommy through Elspeth, he being too terrible to
face by himself, or, as Mrs. Jerry expressed it, "all nose." So Tommy
had seen very little of her, and thought less, until one day he called
by passionate request to sign her birthday-book, and heard himself
proposing to her instead!

For one thing, it was twilight, and she had forgotten to ring for the
lamps. That might have been enough, but there was more: she read to
him part of a letter in which her hand was solicited in marriage.
"And, for the life of me," said Mrs. Jerry, almost in tears, "I cannot
decide whether to say yes or no."

This put Tommy in a most awkward position. There are probably men who
could have got out of it without proposing; but to him there seemed at
the moment no other way open. The letter complicated matters also by
beginning "Dear Jerry," and saying "little Jerry" further
on--expressions which stirred him strangely.

"Why do you read this to me?" he asked, in a voice that broke a
little.

"Because you are so wise," she said. "Do you mind?"

"Do I mind!" he exclaimed bitterly. ("Take care, you idiot!" he said
to himself.)

"I was asking your advice only. Is