Fanny
had not mentioned it again, and both Virginia and Mrs. Blaine were
silent. Instinctively Fanny knew that her mother and sister
disapproved of the match and inwardly she resented it. Why should they
interfere with her happiness? She had a right to look after her own
interests. What better offer could she expect? Suppose James was a
rough diamond; he might still make a better husband than some other
man better educated. He had had no advantages, but he was respectable
and clever. Everyone admitted that he was smart. His ideas were simply
wonderful. One of these days he would make a lot of money with his
brains, and then she would be proud to be his wife. Thus she reasoned
and, once she made up her mind, nothing could alter it. Mr. Gillie
continued his visits and made himself quite at home until, at last,
they all called him by his first name and it became quite natural to
see him there. There was no more talk of marriage, but both Mrs.
Blaine and Virginia soon arrived at the conclusion that he and Fanny
were tacitly engaged.

Virginia sometimes wondered if she herself would ever marry, and, if
so, what kind of man she would choose for a husband. What she knew and
heard of marriage had not filled her with any keen anxiety to enter
the married state, or with any profound respect for matrimony as a
social institution. In theory it was beautiful; in practice it left
much to be desired. Like any thoughtful girl having a broad, sane
outlook on life, she fully appreciated the dangers and unhappiness
that may attend unions entered into lightly and carelessly, without
such safeguards as regards morals and health, as a paternal State
should properly control.

Although a girl of high moral principles, she was not innocent. Are
there any such? Innocence is, of necessity, the sister of ignorance.
The conditions of modern existence render it impossible for any girl,
once she has attained the age of fifteen, to continue unacquainted
with the main facts of life, and some are initiated at an even
tenderer age. How is it possible for any maiden to remain
unenlightened in this regard these days when sensational, muck-raking
prints throw the searchlight of publicity into every boudoir and spicy
details of society's philandering fill column after column in the
breakfast table newspaper? No matter how little curiosity a
healthy-minded girl may have, by reason of a natural coldness of
temperament, to acquire such knowledge, it becomes