I only wanted to tell you that--that I pr--pr--pri--prize your li--li--li--" "But I never lie," she interrupted me, saucily.
"That I shall be the most mis--is--is--er--able fellow that ever--" "Now don't make a goose of yourself, cousin John," she said, sweetly, laying her little hand on my shoulder for an instant.

"Stop where you are! Tom Todd asked me to marry him, half an hour ago, and I said I would." Tom Todd, then, had got the start of me; after all.

Worse! he had sneaked into the dining-room after Susie, and had come up behind us and heard every word.

As I turned, dizzy and confused, I saw his smiling, insolent face.

Enraged, unhappy, and embarrassed by his grieving triumph, I hastily turned to retreat into the pantry! Unfortunately, there were two doors close together, one leading to the pantry, the other to the cellar.