"I do say it. If a girl really loves a man, she will marry him even
though he should write a book against Darwin. If a girl really loves a
man she will stand by him all the closer when he is undergoing a course
of honorable persecution, with his portrait in every paper that one
picks up."

"I dare say that is true enough," assented Phyllis. "Perhaps I never did
really love Mr. Holland. Perhaps I only fancied I cared for him because
I saw that so many other girls--took to wearing chocolates and grays and
kept their sleeves down just when sleeves were highest."

"Of course it was only natural that you should wish to--well,
colloquially, to wipe the eyes of the other girls. How many girls, I
should like to know, begin to think of a man as a possible husband
until they perceive that the thoughts of other girls are turned in his
direction?"

"At any rate, whatever I may have done long ago--"

"Three months ago."

"Three months ago. Whatever I may have done then, I know that I don't
love him now."

"Don't be too sure, my dear Phyllis. If there is one thing more than
another about which a woman should never be positive, it is whether or
not she loves a particular man. What mistakes they make! No, I'll never
believe that you turned him adrift simply because he wrote something
disparagingly about Solomon, or was it David? And I did so want you and