"You came upon
us as suddenly as if you had descended from heaven!"
"Whither you would like to send me back! Am I wrong, Tom?"
And I shot a glance of ancient and paternal affection at these two
young things, whose _tete-a-tete_ I had interrupted.
Katy blushed beautifully, and then ended by laughing. Tom caressed his
slender mustache, and said:---
"My dear fellow, I certainly should like to go to heaven--consequently
to send my friends there--but if it is all the same to everybody, I
think I would prefer--hem!--deferring the journey for a brief period,
my boy."
"Until an angel is ready to go with you!"
And I glanced at the angel with the ringlets.
"Ah, my dear Surry!" said Tom, smoothing his chin with his hand, "you
really have a genius for repartee which is intolerable, and not to be
endured!"
"Let the angel sit in judgment!"
"Oh, you have most 'damnable iteration!'"
"I learned it all from you."
"From me, my boy?"
"Certainly--see the beauty of repetition in poetry."
And looking at the damsel, I began to repeat--
"Katy! Katy!
Don't marry any other!
You'll break my heart, and kill me dead,
And then be hanged for murder!"
The amount of blushing, laughter, pouting, good humor, and hilarity
generally, which this poem occasioned, was charming.
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