'Tis your willing slave who asks it."
Robert bit his lips, but managed to turn a serious face toward Ronald. "Is that all you've got?"
"That's all, so far. I thought myself into a headache about it, but I couldn't write any more. What shall I put in next?"
"I don't want to seem critical," observed Forsyth; "but you've got a false rhyme there."
"What's a 'false rhyme'?"
"'Basket' and asks it'—'ask it' would be all right."
"It doesn't fit. We'll leave that just as it is—nobody but you would notice it, and you're not getting the present."
"What do you want to say next?"
"Well, I don't know, exactly," replied Ronald, confidentially. "Of course, I want it to be personal in a way, with a delicate reminder of my affection at the end of it."