"And why not, Mistress Dyke?"
"Girls do not say such things to men."
Moore sighed regretfully.
"I wish they did," said he. "Don't you like me at all any more?"
"Not very much," replied Bessie, with seeming frankness.
"Won't you smile at me?"
"No," said Bessie, determinedly, "I will not."
As she spoke she turned away from the poet, but he was not to be so easily defeated.
"Bessie," he whispered tenderly. "Smile at me, dearest, smile just once."
"No," she answered firmly, "I will not. I don't have to smile if I don't wish to, do I?"