My roommate was interested in a young man in her English-literature class, but she was too shy to let him know. One day she overheard him say he was on his way to the library for a certain book. She rushed to the library, found the book and stuck in it a letter from her mother.

"Why would he want to read a letter from your mother?" I asked.

"He wouldn"t, but if he"s any kind of gentleman, he"ll return it to me " Her dorm and room numbers were on the envelope, of course.

The next day he appeared with the letter and asked my roommate out on a date. "Couldn"t fail," she later told me. "The book was Great Expectations.