DEAR MR. PUNCH,--The reason (which I confide to your ear, and yours alone) is obvious--the girls don't, and apparently _won't_ propose. Of course they ought--what else do we have Leap Year for? Take my own case. I am genuinely in love with ETHEL TRINKERTON, who has just been staying with us in the country for three weeks. She has paid me every kind of attention. In our neighbourhood, if A. carries B.'s umbrella, where A. and B. are of opposite sexes, it is regarded as an informal, though perfectly definite way of announcing an approaching engagement. She knew the custom, and _carried mine on no less than three occasions_. (It is entirely beside the point that it rained heavily each time.) Yet she left us yesterday without an approach to a proposal. She's fair enough herself, but is her conduct? It isn't as if I hadn't given her enough chances. It cost me a small fortune to bribe my small brother to keep away; and, time after time, I've consented to sit alone with her in the summer-house. It isn't as if she couldn't afford it. They tell me she has at least a thousand a-year in her own right (whatever that may be), which would do capitally. I happen to be penniless myself; but, as I heard her say, her idea of marriage was the union of "soul to soul," my want of a few paltry pence could hardly matter. It's particularly humiliating for me, as, after the repeated umbrella-carrying, everybody here thinks it's all settled. That, _Mr. Punch_, is the reason why, at any rate, _one_ young man doesn't marry. Yours, thoroughly aggrieved, BERTIE COOL-CHEEK, _Pickleton-in-the-Marsh, Kent_. P.S.--If ETHEL really didn't understand her position, and would like to reopen the matter, I would not be haughty about it.--B. C-C. DEAR, KIND, GOOD MR. PUNCH,--The reason is obvious--the men don't and won't propose to the right girls. Take my own case. I've just stayed three weeks with the COOL-CHEEKS, and felt quite certain BERTIE would have proposed. He had all the symptoms badly. I saw him give his little brother half-a-crown to go indoors for ten minutes, and the way he _would_ go in the summer-house and for long walks--with _me_--made it quite clear (as I thought) what was going to happen. Yet, he let me come away without a word! I'm sure _I_ don't want to run after him (or anybody else), but I _did_ think he meant something. We suited one another admirably. In fact, if he doesn't ask _me_ with all the opportunities he had, he'd ask no one. Yours, just-a-little-disappointed, ETHEL TRINKERTON, _The Thorns, Bayswater._ P.S.--He carried my umbrella almost hourly--and you know what _that_ means. If BERTIE was only nervous, and would like another chance--well, we are always at home on Sunday afternoons.--E.T. * * * * * [Illustration: A REAL CONVERT.