Page:Romance & Reality 1.pdf/83

Rh If he hesitated a moment, it was to fill up the pause with

Did the fair dame wear flowers in her dark hair, he talked of

If she sang, he praised by whispering that her voice

Dearly did he love a little religious controversy; for then the dispute could be wound up with

This propensity had brought on him an absurd nickname. A young lady, whose designs on another he had thwarted for a whole evening by a course of ill-timed compliments—and the prosperity of a compliment, even more than of a jest,

—called him Cupid Quotem; and the ridiculous is memory's most adhesive plaster.