urse of a
year or so, for rustic courtship is a slow process, that the two men
and woman found themselves thrown much together. They were all
satisfied, so it did not matter, and Sarah, who was vain and something
frivolous, took care to have her revenge on both men and women in a
quiet way. When a young woman in her 'walking out' can only boast one
not-quite-satisfied young man, it is no particular pleasure to her to
see her escort cast sheep's eyes at a better-looking girl supported by
two devoted swains.

At length there came a time which Sarah dreaded, and which she had
tried to keep distant--the time when she had to make her choice
between the two men. She liked them both, and, indeed, either of them
might have satisfied the ideas of even a more exacting girl. But her
mind was so constituted that she thought more of what she might lose,
than of what she might gain; and whenever she thought she had made up
her mind she became instantly assailed with doubts as to the wisdom of
her choice. Always the man whom she had presumably lost became endowed
afresh with a newer and more bountiful crop of advantages than had
ever arisen from the possibility of his acceptance. She promised each
man that on her birthday she would give him his answer, and that day,
the 11th of April, had now arrived. The promises had been given singly
and confidentially, but each was given to a man who was not likely to
forget. Early in the morning she found both men hovering round her
door. Neither had taken the other into his confidence, and each was
simply seeking an early opportunity of getting his answer, and
advancing his suit if necessary. Damon, as a rule, does not take
Pythias with him when making a proposal; and in the heart of each man
his own affairs had a claim far above any requirements of friendship.
So, throughout the day, they kept seeing each other out. The position
was doubtless somewhat embarrassing to Sarah, and though the
satisfaction of her vanity that she should be thus adored was very
pleasing, yet there were moments when she was annoyed with both men
for being so persistent. Her only consolation at such moments was that
she saw, through the elaborate smiles of the other girls when in
passing they noticed her door thus doubly guarded, the jealousy which
filled their hearts. Sarah's mother was a person of commonplace and
sordid ideas, and, seeing all along the state of affairs, her one
intention, persistently expressed to her