And when along the foolscap sheet it raced,
It twangled music to the words I traced;--
At last by letter I declared my flame
To her--to her--

FALK.
Whose _fiancee_ you became.

STIVER.
In course of post her answer came to hand--
The motion granted--judgment in my favour!

FALK.
And you felt bigger, as you wrote, and braver,
To find you'd brought your venture safe to land!

STIVER.
Of course.

FALK.
And you bade the Muse farewell?

STIVER.
I've felt no lyric impulse, truth to tell,
From that day forth. My vein appeared to peter
Entirely out; and now, if I essay
To turn a verse or two for New Year's Day,
I make the veriest hash of rhyme and metre,
And--I've no notion what the cause can be--
It turns to law and not to poetry.