The teeth on the
other side have loosened and are ready to fall out, while the overworked
molars on the other are about to run into decay. The faculties whereby
he was expected to please other people have become rudimentary, and he
can now no more fascinate other people than he can sing soprano. He
makes an effort to engage the interest of a young lady. The hollowness
of his attack at once arrests her attention. The ease with which he
speaks long sentences of admiration proclaims his long practice in the
art, and the utter lack of real meaning in them. He knows that the girl
will
LAUGH BEHIND HIS BACK,
and it irritates him, and disposes him to attribute her act to "the
falseness of her sex," when it is merely her keen intelligence in such
matters. The fact of the matter is, that though an old bachelor is
seemingly greatly smitten with nearly every young girl he sees, he does
not succeed in marrying because he is a hard man to catch. The young
woman takes his measurement. His devotion is overpowering, but she
easily sees that it is a sham. The bachelor looks at her glove, and,
instead of admiring the hand, as the "marrying young man" does, he says
"Dollar and a half!"
HE LOOKS INTO HER EYES AND FIGURES
on the probable cost of board for two.
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