it."

He looked at Miss Sally and saw that she was showing no signs of being
bored.

"I held the book like this," he said, showing how he held it, "and read.
All that it said to do I had done and my anger grew stronger. But I
turned the page! I saw the words I had not seen before; words that told
me I had tried to tear my best friend to pieces. I sand into a chair
trembling like a leaf. I felt like a man jerked back from the edges of
Niagara Falls, a full description and picture of that wonder of nature
being given in this book among other natural masterpieces. I weakly
lifted the book back again and read those golden words."

"What was it?" asked Miss Sally, leaning forward.

"'Courtship--How to Make Love--How to Win the Affections--How to Hold
Them When Won.'" said Eliph', turning to the proper page. "And the words
I read were these: 'The lover should not be utterly cast down if he be
refused upon first appealing for the dear one's hand. A first refusal
often means little or nothing. A lady frequently uses this means to test
the reality of the passion the lover has professed, and in such a case
a refusal is often a most hopeful sign. Unless the refusal has been
accompanied by very evident signs of dislike, the lover should try
again. If at the third trial the fair one still denies his suit, he had
better seek elsewhere for happiness, but until the third test he should
not be discouraged. The first refusal may be but the proof of a finer
mind than common in the lady.'"

Eliph' removed his spectacles and laid them carefully in the pages of
the book which he closed and placed gently on the center-table.

"Having read that," he said, "I saw that I had done this work a wrong. I
had read it hastily and had missed the most important words. I felt the
joy of life returning to me. I remembered that you were a lady of finer
mind than common, and I understood why you had refused me. I resolved
to stay in Kilo and justify Jarby's Encyclopedia of Knowledge and
Compendium of Literature, Science and Art by giving it another trial.
And now," he said, placing his hand on the book where it lay on the
table and leaning forward to gaze more closely into Miss Sally's face,
while she faced him with a quickened pulse, and a blush, "now, I want to
ask you again, WILL you put your name down for a copy of this work----"
He stopped appalled at what he had said, and stared at Miss Sally for
one moment foolishly, while over her face spread