with love the better. If I have made opportunities for Helen and Watts
to see something of each other, I have only done what was to their
mutual interests. Any courtesy I have shown him is well enough accounted
for on the ground of his father's interest in my institution, without
the assumption of any matrimonial intentions. However, I am not opposed
to a marriage. Watts is the son of a very rich man of the best social
position in New York, besides being a nice fellow in himself. Helen will
make any man a good wife, and whoever wins her will not be the poorer.
If the two can fix it between themselves, I shall cry _nunc dimittis_,
but further than this, the deponent saith and doeth not."

"I am sure they love each other," said Mrs. Pierce.

"Well," said Mr. Pierce, "I think if most parents would decide whom it
was best for their child to marry, and see that the young people saw
just enough of each other, before they saw too much of the world, they
could accomplish their purpose, provided they otherwise kept their
finger out of the pot of love. There is a certain period in a man's life
when he must love something feminine, even if she's as old as his
grandmother. There is a certain period in a girl's life when it is
well-nigh impossible for her to say 'no' to a lover. He really only
loves the sex, and she really loves the love and not the lover; but it
is just as well, for the delusion lasts quite as long as the more
personal love that comes later. And, being young, they need less
breaking for double harness."

Mrs. Pierce winced. Most women do wince when a man really verges on his
true conclusions concerning love in the abstract, however satisfactory
his love in the concrete may be to them. "I am sure they love each
other," she affirmed.