"One day, quite by accident, he met me on the street—right before my own door—and he stopped short, looking at me with evident admiration expressed in his coarse face and glittering black eyes."
"'Ah, ha! you turn up your little nose at me, eh?' he cried. 'Well, you shall be sorry for that, and in a fortnight, too, I'll warrant.'
"I would have passed him by without deigning him a reply; but he caught me by the shoulder, and held me fast.
"'No, you don't move on like that!' he yelled in my ear, a great flush rising to his already florid, wine-stained features. 'You shall kiss me, my pretty, here and now!'
"I endeavored to pass him, but he still clutched me tightly, fiercely in his strong grasp, and I—I dealt him a stinging blow across the face with the palm of my hand.
"The action surprised him so that he released me from his grasp for a single instant, and in that instant I darted away from him like a startled hare.
"'You shall pay for this!' he cried, looking after me. 'He laughs best who laughs last!'
"It was within a fortnight after that most unfortunate event that the crisis came. My father sent for me, and told me he had had a proposal for my hand.
"'The man who wants to marry you will make a great lady of you, my girl,' said my father, eagerly. 'You are lucky! I repeat you are very lucky! Why are you looking at me with troubled eyes,' he demanded, 'when you ought to be clapping your hands in delight and asking me who it is?'
"'I am silent because I fear to inquire the name,' I replied, slowly, 'lest you should utter a name which I loathe.'