The man seizes a commonplace opportunity and--stutters. Probably,

The ideal proposal occurs only in novels. And yet--and yet--

Perhaps after all the real proposal is more complimentary to woman than
is the ideal; at least perhaps

The aberration and obfuscation of the man is proof once (i) of her
potency and (ii) of his sincerity.

Did man keep his head, would woman be quite so sure of his heart? Yet it
may be that in these matter woman is liable to err, since

Rarely, if ever, does a woman's heart run away with her head. When it
does--

Ah! the momentary bliss of an unreasoning emotion! Yet

Woman does right to keep her head, for

Almost every woman's happiness depends upon what she does with her
heart--unless indeed she elects to go through life homeless, childless,
and unenspoused; for

Though it is the wife that makes the home, it is the man who must provide
for it. And since

Man, by nature, is probably nomadic and polygamic; not his to debate
whether to give rein to emotion. Woman, by nature, is in far different