Many a man has be exasperated, not only by the audacity of his rival, but
by the equanimity with which his lady-love views that audacity. He
forgets that, as a rule,

Feminine complaisance varies directly as masculine audacity. And yet,
often enough, as a simple matter of fact, 118 Masculine diffidence is
vastly more potent than masculine audacity. And further,

Rarely need the complaisance that audacity evokes perturb the diffident
man; since

Rarely need the complaisance that audacity evokes perturb the diffident
man; since

The true woman may give her fingertips to the gallant; she gives herself
to the worshiper. The pity o' it is that

The worshiper cannot away with the complaisance that permits a woman to
give even her finger-tips to the gallant. And

Few are the women who have plumbed the silent and sensitive depths of the
diffidence of her devotee. The worst of it is,

The devotee essays two things: he would apotheosize the object of his
adoration and place her as a constellation among the stars; yet he would
have her at the same time terrestrial and tangible. When the woman shows
herself terrestrial and tangible to others than he, the faith of the
devotee is shaken. In fine,

Every lover attempts that impossible task: the realization of the