Page:Lady Barbarity; a romance (IA ladybarbarityrom00snai).pdf/143

 "Why, certainly it is," says I, "but still you are very handsome."

"'Tis untrue," says he, determined to prevail and doing so, for he was of that disposition that whatever he wished he obtained, and whatever he undertook he performed; "but, madam, if it will be a satisfaction to you, I may say, that for my size I possess an arm that merits your attention. Observe these muscles, madam. They are flexible."

And I laughed aloud, when he pushed his sleeve up suddenly and laid his forearm bare. He bent it and made its fibres rise, and before he would be content I had to grip it with an appearance of great interest.

But the catalogue of his dimensions and his feminine resemblance was to put me in possession of one of the bravest stratagems that ever was conceived.

"I have it!" I exclaimed, in a tone of victory. "I have it! I have discovered a device that shall fit you like a glove."

"I do not want a device," says he; "give me an honest sword, and a sturdy courage. They are worth all your pussy-cat tricks."

"You have a feminine exterior," says I, "and I possess the clothes and the arts that can adorn it. In half an hour you shall become a most ravishing girl."

"I will not, by thunder!" he exclaimed, with gleams of purple in his face. "I will go to Tyburn rather."