charm. A hero who says "darling" every time he opens his
finely-chiselled mouth is very near perfection. That fondness lasts
well into the after-years, for "darling" is, above all others, the
favourite term of endearment with a woman.

Were it not for the stern parents and wholesome laws as to age, girls
might more often marry their first loves. It is difficult to conjecture
what the state of civilisation might be, if it were common for people to
marry their first loves, regardless of "age, colour, or previous
condition of servitude."

[Sidenote: Age and Colour]

Age and colour are all-important factors with Mademoiselle. She could
not possibly love a boy three weeks younger than herself, and if her
eyes are blue and her hair light, no blondes need apply.

There is a curious delusion, fostered by phrenologists and other amiable
students of "temperament," to the effect that a brunette must infallibly
fall in love with a blonde and vice versa. What dire misfortune may
result if this rule is not followed can be only surmised, for the
phrenologists do not know. Still, the majority of men are dark and it is
said they do not marry as readily as of yore--is this the secret of the
widespread havoc made by peroxide of hydrogen?

The lurid fiction fever soon runs its course with Mademoiselle, if she
is let alone, and she turns her attention once more to her schoolmates.
She has at least a dozen serious attacks before she is twenty, and at
that ripe age, is often a little _blasé_.