D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
NEW YORK AND LONDON: MCMXI
"'I realised that I was going to kiss her if she didn't move.... And—she didn't.'"—[Page 276.]
TO
Mr. and Mrs. C. Wheaton Vaughan
This volume packed with bric-à-brac
I offer you with my affection,—
The story halts, the rhymes are slack—
Poor stuff to add to your collection.
Gems you possess from ages back:
It is the modern junk you lack.
We three once moused through marble halls,
Immersed in Art and deep dejection,
Mid golden thrones and choir-stalls
And gems beyond my recollection—
Yet soft!—my memory recalls
Red labels pasted on the walls!
And so, perhaps, my bric-à-brac
May pass the test of your inspection;
Perhaps you will not send it back,
But place it—if you've no objection—
Under some nick-nack laden rack
Where platters dangle on a tack.
So if you'll take this book from me
And hide it in your cupboards laden
Beside some Dresden filigree
And frivolously fetching maiden—
Who knows?—that Dresden maid may see
My book—and read it through pardie!
R. W. C.