ll, but look here, Miss Sophia; let me paint the scene. You have
fainted, as a matter of course, and fallen prostrate on the ground,
insensible."

"That is likely enough, if we had encountered one of the animals you
mention."

"Then I throw myself between you and the savage brute."

"Supposing you were not half a mile off at the time."

"No fear of that--he rises, on his hind legs, and glares."

"Is it a hyena or a bear?"

"Oh, whichever you like--he opens his jaws, and growls."

"Like the wolf at Little Red Riding Hood."

"I plunge my arm down his throat and choke him."

"Clever, very; but are you not wounded?"

"I beg your pardon, however; all my thoughts are centred in you--I
think of nothing else."

"I am insensible, am I not?"

"Yes, more than ever--we all run towards you, and exert ourselves to
bring you back to your senses."

"Then I come to life again."

"No, stop a bit."

"But it is tiresome to be so long insensible."

"My mother has luckily a bottle of salts, which she holds to your
nose--I run off to the nearest brook, and return with water in the
crown of my cap, with which I bathe your temples."

"Oh, in that case, I should open one eye at least. Which eye is opened
first after fainting?"

"I really don't know."

"In that case, to avoid mistakes, I should open both."

"It is only then, when I find you are recovering, that I discover the
brute has severely bitten my arm."

"Then comes my turn to nurse you."

"You express your thanks in your sweetest tones, and I forget my
wounds."

"Sweet tones do no harm, if they are accompanied with salves and
ointment."

"In short, I am obliged to carry my arm in a sling for three months
after."

"Is that not rather long?"

"No; because your arm, in some sort, supplies, meantime, the place of
mine."

"Your picture has, at least, the merit of being poetic. Is it
finished?"

"Not till next New Year's Day, when you present me with an embroidered
scarf, as the ladies of yore used to do to the knights that defended
them from dragons and that sort of thing."

"What a pity all this should be only a dream!"

"Well, I am not particularly extravagant, at all events; others dream
of fortune, honor, and glory."

"Whilst you confine your aspirations to a bear, a bite, and a scarf."

"You see nothing was wanted but the opportunity."

"And foresight."

"Foresight?"

"Yes; if you had previously made arrangements with a bear, the whole
sc