"Now, or never," I thought, turning pale as death; and with one resolute effort I slipped into the hall and so into the dining-room. Susie was there, doing something; but when she saw me enter she gave a little shriek and darted into the pantry. No! I was not to be baffled thus. A cold sweat broke out on my forehead, but I thought of that snob in the parlor, and pressed on to the pantry-door. "Susie," said I, very softly, trying to open it--"Susie, I _must_ speak to you. Let me in." The more I tried to open the door the more firmly she held it. "Do go along with you, cousin John," she answered. "I can't, Susie. I want to see you a minute." "See me? Oh, what a wicked fellow! Go along, or I'll tell your mother." "Tell, or not; for once I'm going to have my own way," I said, and pressing my knee against the door, I forced it open, and there stood my pretty cousin, angry and blushing, trying to hide from my view the crinoline which had come off in the parlor. I retreated, closing the door and waiting for her to re-appear. In a few minutes she came out, evidently offended. "Susie," I stammered, "I did--did--didn't dream your bus--bus--bustle had come off. I only wanted to tell you that--that I pr--pr--pri--prize your li--li--li--" "But I never lie," she interrupted me, saucily. "That I shall be the most mis--is--is--er--able fellow that ever--" "Now don't make a goose of yourself, cousin John," she said, sweetly, laying her little hand on my shoulder for an instant. "Stop where you are! Tom Todd asked me to marry him, half an hour ago, and I said I would." Tom Todd, then, had got the start of me; after all. Worse! he had sneaked into the dining-room after Susie, and had come up behind us and heard every word. As I turned, dizzy and confused, I saw his smiling, insolent face. Enraged, unhappy, and embarrassed by his grieving triumph, I hastily turned to retreat into the pantry! Unfortunately, there were two doors close together, one leading to the pantry, the other to the cellar. In my blind embarrassment I mistook them; and the next moment the whole company were startled by a loud bump--bumping, a crash, and a woman's scream. There was a barrel of soft-soap at the foot of the cellar-stairs, and I fell, head first, into that. CHAPTER XIX. DRIVEN FROM HIS LAST DEFENCE. Susie was Mrs. Todd before I recovered from the effects of my involuntary soap-bath. "Smart trick!" cried my father when he fished me out of the barrel.