Looking as sentimental as his spectacles would allow, Mr. Verdant Green replied in verse—
"'Hopes that once we've loved to cherish
May fade and droop, but never perish!'
as Shakspeare says." (Although he modestly attributed this sentiment to the Swan of Avon, it was, nevertheless, another quotation from his own Legend.) "And it is my case. I cannot forget the Past, though you may!"
"Really you are as enigmatical as the Sphinx!" said Miss Patty, who again thought of Mr. Verdant Green in connection with champagne. "Pray condescend to speak more plainly, for I was never clever at finding out riddles."
"And have you forgotten what you said to me, in reply to a question that I asked you, as we came up the hill?"
"Yes, I have quite forgotten. I dare say I said many foolish things; but what was the particular foolish thing that so dwells on your mind?"
"If it is so soon forgotten, it is not worth repeating."
"Oh, it is! Pray gratify my curiosity. I am sorry my bad memory should have given you any pain."
"It was not your bad memory, but your words."
"My bad words?"
"No, not bad; but words that shut out a bright future, and changed my life to gloom." (The Legend again.)
Miss Patty looked more perplexed than ever; while Mr. Pole-
