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Page 61
I threw my arms around her and paid back, with interest, the kiss I had
kept so long. A burning blush overspread her face.
"Oh, Roy! how could you?" she exclaimed, reproachfully.
I had gone too far to retreat; the words which for years had filled my
heart struggled up to my lips and clamored for utterance.
"Florence!" I cried, passionately, "I love you! and I want you to be
entirely mine! Take me, and cure me of the bashful folly which has been
the bane of my life!"
She did not reply. I was in a tumult of fear and hope, but a sort of
desperate courage kept me firm.
"One word, Florence, only one word! Am I to be consigned to Hades, or
Paradise? Do not keep me in suspense!"
She nestled closer to my side; her soft cheek rested against mine; her
breath swept my lips. She spoke but one word in accents of deepest
tenderness, and that word was my name--
"Roy!"
"Florence! my darling!"
I trust that everybody will forgive me, and feel charitably toward me,
when I declare on my honor that I was happier, at that moment, than I had
ever been in my life before! "Popping the question" is acknowledged by
all to be a serious piece of business; and if ordinary men find it a
serious business, how much more terrible must it be to a bashful
individual like myself?
A silence fell between Florence and me; perhaps I was holding her so
close to my heart that the effort of speaking was difficult, I should not
wonder. By-and-by she lifted up her face, and said, quietly:
"Did you mean for me to marry you, Roy?"
"Marry me? Yes, dearest, and that, too, before many days have elapsed!
I have been a fool so long that now I cannot afford to wait!"
"Yes; but if I promise myself to you, how can I be sure that, on the way
to the altar, you will not jump over the fence, and leave me to fate and
Will Richardson?"
"Confound Will Richardson! Florence, forgive me! I was little less than
a brute! Is there peace between us?"
"Both peace and love," she whispered, softly; and my heart was at rest.
My mother was overjoyed by the turn affairs had taken. Everything had
happened just as she had wished; and, to this day, the good lady idolizes
tomatoes, insisting upon it that it was through the agency of those
preserves that Florence and I came to an understanding. It might have
been--I cannot tell--great events sometimes originate in small causes.
Florence--dear little wife!--for five years she has sustained to me that
relation; and if she has not cured me of my bashfulness, she has at least
broken me of its extreme folly.
To other men afflicted as I was with constitutional shyness, I can
conscientiously recommend my course. Don't be afraid; the ladies admire
courage, and "None but the brave deserve the fair."
***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FATAL GLOVE***
******* This file should be named 15989-8.txt or 15989-8.zip *******
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/9/8/15989
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
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