On a park bench set against a painted studio backdrop — a domed classical building crowning a wooded hill — a stiffly hatted woman sits at one end and a nervous young man at the other, as far apart as the bench allows, each pointedly not looking at the other. The caption delivers the joke with perfect Edwardian deadpan: "I do wish he would speak, this suspense is awful." Published by the beloved British firm Bamforth & Co. of Holmfirth, Yorkshire, this undivided-back card dates to the pre-1907 golden age of comic postcards. The "Suspense" series was enormously popular on both sides of the Atlantic, capturing the awkward rituals of Edwardian courtship with gentle humor. Addressed to H. Mac Innes at 33 Beacon St., Middletown — the same recipient as another card in this lot — it bears a New York, N.Y. postmark dated January 25, likely 1905.