HICKORY DOCK
Conversation should be altogether lost, so she plunged for a topic.
"I think it was beautiful of you to give me a Hickory Dock," she ventured at last.
The Man shifted a trifle uneasily and laughed. "I thought perhaps it would please you," he stammered. "You see, now I have given you all my time."
The Girl chuckled with amused delight. "Yes—all your time. And it's nice to have a Hickory Dock that says "Till he comes! Till he comes! Till he comes!"
"Till he comes to—stay," persisted the Man. There was no sparkle in his sentiment. He said things very plainly, but his words drove the Girl across the room to the window with her face flaming. He jumped and followed her, and caught her almost roughly by the shoulder and turned her round.
"Rosalie, Rosalie," he demanded, "will you love me till the end of time?" There was no gallantry in his face but a great, dogged persistency that frightened the Girl into a flippant answer. She brushed her fluff of hair across his face and strug gled away from him.
"I will love you," she teased, "until—the clock stops."
Then the Man burst out laughing, suddenly and
36
