Men seldom do , for when women are the advisers , the lords of creation do n't take the advice till they have persuaded themselves that it is just what they intended to do . Then they act upon it , and , if it succeeds , they give the weaker vessel half the credit of it . If it fails , they generously give her the whole . Laurie went back to his grandfather , and was so dutifully devoted for several weeks that the old gentleman declared the climate of Nice had improved him wonderfully , and he had better try it again . There was nothing the young gentleman would have liked better , but elephants could not have dragged him back after the scolding he had received . Pride forbid , and whenever the longing grew very strong , he fortified his resolution by repeating the words that had made the deepest impression -- `` I despise you . '' `` Go and do something splendid that will make her love you . '' Laurie turned the matter over in his mind so often that he soon brought himself to confess that he had been selfish and lazy , but then when a man has a great sorrow , he should be indulged in all sorts of vagaries till he has lived it down . He felt that his blighted affections were quite dead now , and though he should never cease to be a faithful mourner , there was no occasion to wear his weeds ostentatiously . Jo would n't love him , but he might make her respect and admire him by doing something which should prove that a girl 's ` No ' had not spoiled his life . He had always meant to do something , and Amy 's advice was quite unnecessary . He had only been waiting till the aforesaid blighted affections were decently interred . That being done , he felt that he was ready to ` hide his stricken heart , and still toil on ' . As Goethe , when he had a joy or a grief , put it into a song , so Laurie resolved to embalm his love sorrow in music , and to compose a Requiem which should harrow up Jo 's soul and melt the heart of every hearer . Therefore the next time the old gentleman found him getting restless and moody and ordered him off , he went to Vienna , where he had musical friends , and fell to work with the firm determination to distinguish himself . But whether the sorrow was too vast to be embodied in music , or music too ethereal to uplift a mortal woe , he soon discovered that the Requiem was beyond him just at present . It was evident that his mind was not in working order yet , and his ideas needed clarifying , for often in the middle of a plaintive strain , he would find himself humming a dancing tune that vividly recalled the Christmas ball at Nice , especially the stout Frenchman , and put an effectual stop to tragic composition for the time being . Then he tried an opera , for nothing seemed impossible in the beginning , but here again unforeseen difficulties beset him . He wanted Jo for his heroine , and called upon his memory to supply him with tender recollections and romantic visions of his love . But memory turned traitor , and as if possessed by the perverse spirit of the girl , would only recall Jo 's oddities , faults , and freaks , would only show her in the most unsentimental aspects -- beating mats with her head tied up in a bandanna , barricading herself with the sofa pillow , or throwing cold water over his passion a la Gummidge -- and an irresistable laugh spoiled the pensive picture he was endeavoring to paint .
Jo would n't be XXXXX into the opera at any price , and he had to give her up with a `` Bless that girl , what a torment she is ! ''
barricading being fails hide lived possessed put recall succeeds wear