e of a frank, innocent
child, for, though she was nearly seventeen years old, Cynthia was
absolutely innocent of the flirtatious instinct which is strong in some
little girls in the coral and pinafore stage. She offered her
friendship to Betty's brother as composedly as she had done to Betty
herself; it was Miles who blushed, and stared at the pavement, and his
voice sounded hoarse and difficult as he mumbled his reply--

"I wish you--I'm sure I should--awfully good thing for me if you did!"

"Very well; but you will have to do great things, remember! I shan't be
satisfied with anything less. It will be good for me too, for I shall
have to be very stern with myself, if I am to influence someone else.
What are your chief faults? I ought to know, oughtn't I, so as to be
able to set to work the right way?"

She was so deliciously naive and outspoken, that once again Miles' rare
laugh rang out, and once again Betty marvelled, and felt a thrill of
envy.

By the time that the Albert Hall was reached, the two young people had
progressed so far towards intimacy that Miles had forgotten his shyness,
and confided to his new mentor some of the trials and grievances which
beset him in his work, the which he had never before confided in a human
being. The attraction of one sex to another is a natural and beautiful
thing. God designed it as one of the great forces in His universe, and
an almost omnipotent power it is, either for good or evil. Do the girls
who jest and frivol with the young men with whom they are brought in
contact, realise their responsibility in all they say and do? Do they
ever reflect that the beauty and charm which they possess are weapons
with which God has endowed them,--weapons which may have more power in
the battle of life than a two-edged sword? Laugh and be merry--enjoy
the sunshine of your youth; it is a sin to see a young thing sad; but
never, never, as you value your womanhood, speak a slighting or
irreverent word against God's great laws of righteousness, nor allow
such a word to pass unreproved in your presence. Remember in the midst
of your merry-making to preserve your dignity as women, knowing that by
so doing you will not lose, but trebly strengthen your hold on any man
worthy of the name. Say to yourself, dear girls--"With God's help I
will be a good angel to this man, who has to meet trials and temptations
from which I am exempt. So far as in me lies I will make him respect
all w