ll artes ye most ancient is ye lovely arte of courting.
It is ye earliest form of ye chase. It is older than hawking or
hunting ye wilde bore. It is older than ye flint age or ye stone
aye, being as old as ye bones in ye man his body and in ye woman
her body. It began in ye Garden of Eden and is as old as ye old
devil himself_."

Marguerite laughed: she thought Lady Bluefields delightful.

"_Now ye only purpose in all God His world of ye arte of courting
is to create love where love is not, or to make it grow where it
has begun. But whether ye wish to create love or to blow ye little
coal into ye big blaze, ye principles are ye same; for ye bellows
that will fan nothing into something will easily roast ye spark
into ye roaring fire; and ye grander ye fire, ye grander ye arte_."

Marguerite laughed again. Then she stopped reading and tested the
passage in the light of her experience. A bellows and--nothing to
begin. Then something. Then a spark. Then a name. She returned
to the book with the conclusion that Lady Bluefields was a woman of
experience.

"_This little booke will not contain any but ye first principles:
if is enough for ye stingy price ye pay. But ye woman who buys ye
first principles and fails, must then get ye larger work on ye Last
Principles of Courting, with ye true account of ye mysteries which
set ye principles to going: it is ye infallible guide to ye
irresistible love. Ye pay more for ye Big Booke, and God knows it
is worth ye price: it is written for ye women who are ye difficult
cases--ye floating derelicts in ye ocean of love, ye hidden snags,
terror of ye seafaring men_."

This did not so much interest Marguerite. She skipped two or three
pages which seemed to go unnecessarily into the subject of
derelicts and snags. "I am not quite sure as to what a derelict
is: I do not think I am one; out certainly I am not a snag."

"_Now ye only reason for ye lovely arts of courtinge is ye purpose
to marry. If ye do not expect to marry, positively ye must not
court: flirting is ye dishonest arte. Courting is ye honest arte;
if ye woman knows in ye woman her heart that she will not make ye
man a good wife, let her not try to Cage ye man: let her keep ye
cat or cage ye canary: that is enough for her_."

"I shall dispose of my canary at once. It goes to Miss Harriet
Crane."

"_Now of all men there is one ye woman must not court: ye married
man. Positively ye must not court such a ma