Plot Summary

Adele is courted by Algernon, a delicate young man. They attend a boxing exhibition, and Adele becomes enraptured with the manly art. Algernon starts to take lessons and is given some painful maulings at the gymnasium by the instructors, who delight in battering the "Willie-boy." Adele also takes lessons and accidentally receives a left hook on the jaw, which destroys all her interest. She writes a note to Algernon, expressing her dislike for boxing, and as he gazes at his bruised and battered countenance in the mirror and realizes it has been for naught, he presents a laughable appearance.