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THE IDIOT LOVER.

(DRAWN FROM LIFE.)

_(For the Mirror.)_


"That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man,
If with his tongue he cannot win a woman."


John Laconi was born in the romantic country of Switzerland. He was
educated tolerably well; he was a good musician, and could draw
excellently. He possessed a small, though independent fortune. However,
notwithstanding his advantages and acquirements, he proved, when he became
a lover, to be an idiot.

At a certain period of his life, he fell violently in love with a
beautiful young Swiss lady. She was considerably younger than our hero,
was much taller, and her elegant refinements rendered her a very desirable
object. John had a sister, to whom the young lady paid frequent friendly
visits, and upon such occasions, owing probably to that _mauvaise honte_,
with which he was cursed, he was usually absent from home. I will not
disgust my fair readers with a minute description of _all_ his absurdities;
one example, or so, shall suffice.

One fine evening, in the month of June, after spending the day with
Laconi's sister, the young lady prepared to return alone to her father's