"Why, Toney, my dear fellow," said the Professor, "you must know that when a man gets a bald pate he naturally begins to think of domestic bliss and connubial felicity, which are poetical subjects. If he meditates long on these subjects, versification will be the inevitable result. It was so in my case. As I titillated the top of my bald head with my forefinger, I plainly perceived that the time had come for me to marry. So, like a bird on Saint Valentine's day, I began to look around for a mate." "You were like Dobbs, seeking for an angel and seven sweet little cherubs," said Tom. "No, Mr. Seddon, I was seeking for a dovelike little woman, and I thought I had found one. In my imagination Dora was like a gentle white dove. I cooed around her, and courted for weeks, and wrote some verses in her album. I remember them well." "I would like to hear them," said Toney. "They can be produced from the archives of my memory," said the Professor; and he recited the following verses: When morn had sown her orient gems among the golden flowers That blushed upon their purple stalks in fairy-haunted bowers, Among the glowing throng around, a tender bud I spied, That meekly held its humble place the verdant walk beside. No gaudy beauties decked its crest with variegated dyes, Like blinding splendors blazing o'er the summer's evening skies; With simple moss encircled round, it hung its head to earth, And yet in Flora's language it denotes superior worth. And--what from poet's eye is hid, by others though unseen?-- It was the favorite palace of the lovely Fairy Queen; Adown its tender petals oft her tiny chariot rolled, And she within its fragrant folds her Elfin court did hold. 'Twas then I thought of one who blooms 'mid beauty's living flowers, Like this sweet bud among its mates within the garden's bowers, With unassuming, modest grace--her charms she never knew-- Superior worth her brightest charm. And, lady, is it you? "I read these verses to Dora, and then I asked her the question propounded in the last line." "What did she say?" inquired Tom. "She said no!" "Perhaps she was offended by the comparison to so humble a flower," said Seddon. "It may have been so," said the Professor. "I then asked her a question in relation to the annexation of our destinies." "What did she say?" asked Toney. "She said no! I then asked her again in more unequivocal terms. I told her that I was seeking for domestic bliss and connubial felicity, and earnestly inquired if she would not assist me in the search." "What was her reply?" asked Tom. "She said no! And this time the dovelike Dora laughed in my face." "After having answered no three times?" said Tom. "Three negatives do not make an affirmative, Mr. Seddon, especially when the final negation to your very serious and sentimental proposal is accompanied by laughter. I was mortified and angry, and so I hurried home----"