With each roguish glance they sent.
“‘Nellie, child, you know the rule;
Own before the listening school
Who’s that very rude young man?
I’ll reprove him if I can!’
Nellie tittered: ‘Please forgive him, miss,
’Twas—I—that—that—threw—the—first—kiss.’”
Both were laughing when he paused, but Thea was crimson, too.
“That silly thing!” she said, bashfully. “It was an impromptu at school. It really happened, you know. Nell Olney was the torment of the teachers, and the darling of the girls—the most arrant little flirt in Staunton. The girls said I should put it into rhyme, and I did on the moment. You know I told you they came easy.”
“It was very amusing,” Norman said, as he folded the paper again.