woman who has fallen through love and confidence will get no
sympathy from women, not even from the one who should give it to her--I
mean the one who has given herself to a man, not because she loved him,
but because he offered her money and matrimony.

Women who have in hand a contract of marriage signed, stamped, and
witnessed, are so inexorable towards their sex that they will--I am
ashamed to say it for them--rather take the part of men betrayers than
that of poor women betrayed.

CHAPTER XXXIV

IS HOMOEOPATHY A CURE FOR LOVE?

Since the publication of 'Her Royal Highness Woman' and 'Between
Ourselves,' some people, I am afraid, have somehow been under the
impression that I keep open a sort of Dr. Cupid's office, in which I
hold consultations on questions referring to love and matrimony; and I
have received many letters--far too many to answer--in which fair
correspondents in trouble have written for advice.

Only quite recently I received a letter from a lady, who writes: 'I am
madly in love with a man whom I cannot marry, but whom I have to see on
business almost every day; what should I do to be cured? Should I marry
another man who is now seeking my hand, who can offer me a very good
position, but whom I do not love?'

Now, here is a problem if you like: Can matrimony be administered as an
antidote? If so, in what doses?

To tell you the truth, I rather believe in homoeopathy--that is to
say, in the cure of the like by the like. You want to be cured of your
love for a man--why, love another; it is as simple as possible. Yes,
but the lady tells me she cannot love that other, yet she seems
inclined to 'swallow' him as an antidote. At any rate, she suggests that
she might do so, and I suppose she wants me to tell her whether she is
likely to be successful, if the cure will be effective and lasting.

Of course, there is more chance of happiness in a marriage which is
contracted between a man who loves a woman and a woman who does not love
him than in one contracted between a woman who loves a man and a man who
does not love her. Under the circumstances, a man, after entering
matrimonial life, is much more likely to win his wife's love than a
woman her husband's. I believe this to be so true as to be almost taken
for granted.

But, my dear lady correspondent, are you going to tell that man honestly
on what terms you are going to marry him? Are you going to trust to his
intelligence, his tact, his