He was as knowing and wary as a gray old badger that has often been hunted.  To see him on Sunday, so stiff and starched in his demeanor; so precise in his dress; with his daughter under his arm, and his ivory-headed cane in his hand, was enough to deter all graceless youngsters from approaching.

I managed, however, in spite of his vigilance, to have several Conversations with the daughter, as I cheapened articles in the shop.  I made terrible long bargains, and examined the articles over and over, before I purchased.  In the meantime, I would convey a sonnet or an acrostic under cover of a piece of cambric, or slipped into a pair of stockings; I would whisper soft nonsense into her ear as I haggled about the price; and would squeeze her hand tenderly as I received my halfpence of change, in a bit of whity-brown paper.  Let this serve as a hint to all haberdashers, who have pretty daughters for shop-girls, and young students for customers.  I do not know whether my words and looks were very eloquent; but my poetry was irresistible; for, to tell the truth, the girl had some literary taste, and was seldom without a book from the circulating library.

By the divine power of poetry, therefore, which is irresistible with the lovely sex, did I subdue the heart of this fair little haberdasher.  We carried on a sentimental correspondence for a time across the counter, and I supplied her with rhyme by the stockingful.  At length I prevailed on her to grant me an assignation.  But how was it to be effected?  Her father kept her always under his eye; she never walked out alone; and the house was locked up the moment that the shop was shut.  All these difficulties served but to give zest to the adventure.  I proposed that the assignation should be in her own chamber, into which I would climb at night.  The plan was irresistible.  A cruel father, a secret lover, and a clandestine meeting!  All the little girl’s studies from the circulating library seemed about to be realised.  But what had I in view in making this assignation?  Indeed I know not.  I had no evil intentions; nor can I say that I had any good ones.  I liked the girl, and wanted to have an opportunity of seeing more of her; and the assignation was made, as I have done many things else, heedlessly and without forethought.  I asked myself a few questions of the kind, after all my arrangements were made; but the answers were very unsatisfactory.  “Am I to ruin this poor thoughtless girl?” said I to myself.  “No!” was the prompt and indignant answer.  “Am I to run away with her?” “Whither—­and to what purpose?” “Well, then, am I to marry her!”—­“Pah! a man of my expectations marry a shopkeeper’s daughter!” “What, then, am I to do with her?” “Hum—­why.—­Let me get into her chamber first, and then consider”—­and so the self-examination ended.