When offers tackled me in pairs!

And then, too, I had been so fast

In saying yes, that I would blast

Those tender hopes I lately made—

Two lovers cast one in the shade.

I timed my hours to see them all,

Preventing, thus, a lover’s squall,

And thought my wits were working fine,

When, all at once, that aunt of mine

Commenced, she said, “to smell a rat,”