n not
to dwell upon this struggle in his mind, and to say that in all honesty
he may not have known that the result of it was predetermined. But
interesting and commendable as are these processes of the mind, I
confess that I should have respected him less if the result had not been
predetermined. And this does not in any way take from him the merit of a
restless night and a tasteless breakfast.

Philosophizers on this topic say that a man ought always to be able
to tell by a woman's demeanor towards him whether she is favorably
inclined, and that he need run no risk. Little signs, the eyes alone,
draw people together, and make formal language superfluous. This theory
is abundantly sustained by examples, and we might rest on it if all
women knew their own minds, and if, on the other hand, they could always
tell whether a man was serious before he made a definite avowal. There
is another notion, fortunately not yet extinct, that the manliest thing
a man can do is to take his life in his hand, pay the woman he loves
the highest tribute in his power by offering her his heart and name,
and giving her the definite word that may be the touchstone to reveal to
herself her own feeling. In our conventional life women must move behind
a mask in a world of uncertainties. What wonder that many of them learn
in their defensive position to play a game, and sometimes experiment
upon the honest natures of their admirers! But even this does not
absolve the chivalrous man from the duty of frankness and explicitness.
Life seems ideal in that far country where the handsome youth stops
his carriage at the gate of the vineyard, and says to the laughing girl
carrying a basket of grapes on her head, "My pretty maid, will you marry
me?" And the pretty maid, dropping a courtesy, says, "Thank you, sir; I
am already bespoken," or "Thank you; I will consider of it when I know
you better."

Not for a moment, I suppose, is a woman ever ignorant of a man's
admiration of her, however uncertain she may be of his intentions, and
it was with an unusual flutter of the heart that Margaret received
Mr. Lyon that afternoon. If she had doubts, they were dissipated by a
certain constraint in his manner, and the importance he seemed to
be attaching to his departure, and she was warned to go within her
defenses. Even the most complaisant women like at least the appearance
of a siege.

"I'm off tomorrow," he said, "for Washington. You know you recommended
it a