ive, or even
prostitute of today may be the chorus girl or moving picture vampire
of tomorrow and the millionaire's wife of next year. In America,
especially, men have no settled antipathy to such stooping alliances;
in fact, it rather flatters their vanity to play Prince Charming to
Cinderella. The result is that every normal American young woman,
with the practicality of her sex and the inner confidence that goes
therewith, raises her amorous eye as high as it will roll. And the
second result is that every American man of presentable exterior and
easy means is surrounded by an aura of discreet provocation: he cannot
even dictate a letter, or ask for a telephone number without being
measured for his wedding coat. On the Continent of Europe, and
especially in the Latin countries, where class barriers are more
formidable, the situation differs materially, and to the disadvantage of
the girl. If she makes an overture, it is an invitation to disaster; her
hope of lawful marriage by such means is almost nil. In consequence, the
prudent and decent girl avoids such overtures, and they must be made by
third parties or by the man himself. This is the explanation of the fact
that a Frenchman, say, is habitually enterprising in amour, and
hence bold and often offensive, whereas an American is what is called
chivalrous. The American is chivalrous for the simple reason that
the initiative is not in his hands. His chivalry is really a sort of
coquetry.

20. The Unattainable Ideal

But here I rather depart from the point, which is this: that the average
woman is not strategically capable of bringing down the most tempting
game within her purview, and must thus content herself with a second,
third, or nth choice. The only women who get their first choices
are those who run in almost miraculous luck and those too stupid to
formulate an ideal--two very small classes, it must be obvious. A few
women, true enough, are so pertinacious that they prefer defeat to
compromise. That is to say, they prefer to put off marriage indefinitely
rather than to marry beneath the highest leap of their fancy. But such
women may be quickly dismissed as abnormal, and perhaps as downright
diseased in mind; the average woman is well-aware that marriage is far
better for her than celibacy, even when it falls a good deal short
of her primary hopes, and she is also well aware that the differences
between man and man, once mere money is put aside, are s