whether to be amused or disgusted at the perversity of Fate, which made me such an irresistible lady-killer. Miss M. was evidently dead in earnest, and was a nice, attractive-looking, and real good girl, who would have made Phil a capital wife. As for her forwardness in letting me know the state of her affections for me, I could not blame her for that ; for I had adopted a similar expedient in my own case, and considered that, although it is, as a rule, a man's place to make the first advances, there is no good reason why a woman who is in love with a man should not take measures to let him know the fact. The conventionalities of society are not always based on reason and common sense, and even where they have a rationalistic basis, people are very apt to quibble about very immaterial points, to the neglect of really weighty, matters.
A Question of Propriety.
In the relations of the sexes, there are many points which society insists upon for the sake of the proprieties, which are absolutely absurd when tested by any common-sense standard, while permitting a laxity of manners in others that is far from being conducive to good morals or to the general happiness. Many a woman has lost a good husband through a false modesty, which would not permit her to even give him a hint with regard to her real feelings; for some of the best and most whole-souled men are frequently as timid and bashful as the most timid and- bashful women, and require some encouragement before they can be induced to speak ; while others are strangely obtuse, and do not even think of being anything more than commonly polite to particular ladies, unless some thing is done to stimulate them. Such backward and thick-witted men are often the most ardent lovers, and the fondest and best of husbands when they are once aroused. Many a woman, too, is fond of one man while she is being persistently courted by another; and if, as is apt to be the case, the object of her regards refuses to notice her in the manner she wishes,—perhaps simply because he does not like to interfere with another man's love affair,—she has no resource, if she hopes for a happy future, but to declare herself. There was, therefore, no occasion for censuring Miss M.; but the fact that Phil's rival happened to be, of all people in the world, Lieutenant Harry T. Buford, C. S. A., certainly complicated the situation.
I could not resist the temptation to have a little sport at the
