[Sidenote: The Wise Virgin]

When a girl systematically and effectively feeds a man, she is leading
trumps. He insensibly associates her with his comfort and thus she
becomes his necessity. When a man seeks a woman's society it is because
he has need of her, not because he thinks she has need of him; and the
parlour of the girl who realises it, is the envy of every unattached
damsel on the street. If the wise one is an expert with the
chafing-dish, she may frequently bag desirable game, while the foolish
virgins who have no alcohol in their lamps are hunting eagerly for the
trail.

Because she herself works indirectly, she thinks he intends a tender
look at another girl for a carom shot, and frequently a far-sighted
maiden can see the evidences of a consuming passion for herself in a
man's devotion to someone else.

Men are not sufficiently diplomatic to bother with finesse of this kind.
Other things being equal, a man goes to see the girl he wants to see.
It does not often occur to her that he may not want to see her, may be
interested in someone else, or that he may have forgotten all about her.

[Sidenote: "Encouragement"]

There is a common feminine delusion to the effect that men need
"encouragement" and there is no term which is more misused. A fool may
need "encouragement," but the man who wants a girl will go after her,
regardless of obstacles. As for him, if he is fed at her house, even
irregularly, he may know that she looks with favour upon his suit.