Of the quiet, studious room;

Rows of desks and dimpled faces,

Smiling in accustomed places,

Through the school the whisper ran:

‘Nellie flirted with a man!’

“Oh, what visions of romance

Through their giddy fancies dance!

And the world beyond the curtain

Glimmered dazzling, vague, uncertain.

Dreams of love and lovers blent