--"Doubtless I shrank from giving you the pain of a
refusal."
_True Love_.--"Perhaps; but do you know what I suspect?"
_Bailiff's Daughter_.--"I'm not a suspicious person, thank goodness!"
_True Love_.--"That, on the contrary, you are wilfully withholding from
me the joy of acceptance."
_Bailiff's Daughter_.--"If I intended to accept you, why did I run away?"
_True Love_.--"To make yourself more desirable and precious, I suppose."
_Bailiff's Daughter_ (with the most confident coquetry).--"Did I
succeed?"
_True Love_.--"No; you failed utterly."
_Bailiff's Daughter_ (secretly piqued).--"Then I am glad I tried it."
_True Love_.--"You couldn't succeed because you were superlatively
desirable and precious already; but you should never have experimented.
Don't you know that Love is a high explosive?"
_Bailiff's Daughter_.--"Is it? Then it ought always to be labelled
'dangerous,' oughtn't it? But who thought of suggesting matches? I'm
sure I didn't!"
_True Love_.--"No such luck; I wish you would."
_Bailiff's Daughter_.--"According to your theory, if you apply a match to
Love it is likely to 'go off.'"
_True Love_.--"I wish you would try it on mine and await the result. Come
now, you'll have to marry somebody, sometime."
_Bailiff's Daughter_.--"I confess I don't see the necessity."
_True Love_ (morosely).--"You're the sort of woman men won't leave in
undisturbed spinsterhood; they'll keep on badgering you.
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