e wasn't--but, alas! for me,
I weakly went and fell in love.

Her father was a _millionnaire_,
Which didn't make me love her less.
I thought her quite beyond compare,
And gave long odds she'd answer "Yes."

She thrilled me with each lovely look
She gave me from behind her fan,
She took my heart, and then she took--
The Other Man.

Farewell to Love! I thought I'd try
My level best to get a post;
The salary was not too high,
Two hundred pounds a-year at most.

Committeemen in conclave sat,
Their questions all were cut and dried:
Oh, was I this? And did I that?
And twenty thousand things beside--

As did I smoke? and could I play
At golf? or did I get the gout?
And--most important--could I say
My mother knew that I was out?

Then two were chosen. Should I "do"?
Perhaps!--and, just as I began
To hope, of course they gave it to
The Other Man.

All uselessly I've learnt to swear
And use expressions that are vile;
In vain, in vain I've torn my hair
In quite the most artistic style.

Yet one thing would I gladly learn--
Yes, tell me quickly, if you can--
Shall I be also, in my turn,
The Other Man?

* * * * *

THE KEY TO A LOCK.

["A lock of ----'s hair, set in a small gold-rimmed case, and said to
be an ancient family possession, was knocked down for forty pounds."]

Take yonder lock of tangled hair,
A silver seamed with sable,
Dim harbinger from dreamland fair
Of reverie and fable;

Yes, grandson mine, the treasure take,
A trinket loved, if little,
And wear it, darling, for my sake,
In yonder locket brittle;

Small, as my banker's balance, small
And faint--a touching token;
My luck, the lock, the locket, all
Seem, child, a trifle broken.

Investments, boy, are looking glum;
They flit and fade; in fine a
Not inconsiderable sum
Has gone to--Argentina.

Nay, chide me not; one day, refilled
By these, may shine your pocket,
And Fortune's resurrection gild
The lock within the locket.

Because, you see, when strong and sage
You grow, and all the serried
Lights of the great Victorian age
With me are quenched and buried;

When other men in other days
Walk paramount--then shall you
Submit the thing to such as praise
The Past, its r