Edward saw a young woman undergraduate’s pink face shining towards him like a sun. Her eyes looked as though they were going to fall out. She was waving to Edward. Edward reflected that there were many things in the world that he did not understand. Why should a female undergraduate with whom he was only very slightly acquainted wave and wink so earnestly at him across a room? Was she feeling ill? Edward blamed himself for not understanding. “Our hero lives as if in a dream,” he thought. “Probably other men are quite used to this sort of thing. Perhaps she is making advances to me in a way entirely recognized in certain circles.” With his brooding eyes fixed upon the young woman, who was now pencilling a note, Edward listened to the poem.
“I have had five proposals this semester
One from an assistant instructor.
Have you read Millie’s scream
In the Liberator for March?
Yours body and soul
You’d prefer body to soul I guess
Janks.”
The young woman, Edward noticed, was, by means of signs, causing her note to be passed to Rhoda. “Notes for Rhoda but winks for me,” thought Edward, wrestling mildly with the problem.