lay herself out so deliberately to win a man."

She looked at him gravely. He continued:

"Beauty is very charming, I grant--as are grace and talent; but the
chief charm to me of a woman is her modesty. Do you not agree with me,
Philippa?"

"Yes," she replied, "most certainly I do; but, Norman, you are hard upon
us. Suppose that, woman loves a man ever so truly--she must not make any
sign?"

"Any sign she might make would most certainly, in my opinion, lessen her
greatest charm," he said.

"But," she persisted, "do you not think that is rather hard? Why must a
woman never evince a preference for the man she loves?"

"Woman should be wooed--never be wooer," said Lord Arleigh.

"Again I say you are hard, Norman. According to you, a woman is to break
her heart in silence and sorrow for a man, rather than give him the
least idea that she cares for him."

"I should say there is a happy medium between the Duchess of Gérolstein
and a broken heart. Neither men nor women can help their peculiar
disposition, but in my opinion a man never more esteems a woman than
when he sees she wants to win his love."

He spoke with such perfect freedom from all consciousness that she knew