o have
become a part of it, in fact;--"Paul," said she, earnestly enough,
"you're an awfully good fellow, and I like you so much; I shall always
like you; but if you had been fool enough to propose to me I should have
despised you. Shake!" And she extended a most shapely hand that clasped
his warmly and firmly. While he still held it without restraint, he
added:

"Why I like you so much is because you are unlike other girls; that is
to say, you're perfectly natural."

"Most people who think me unlike other girls, think me unnatural for
that reason. It is hard to be natural, isn't it?"

"Why, no, I think it is the easiest thing in the world to be natural.
I'm as natural as I can be, or as anybody can be."

"And yet I've heard you pronounced a bundle of affectations."

"I know that--it's been said in my hearing, but I don't care in the
least; it is natural for the perfectly natural person _not_ to care in
the least."

"I think, perhaps, it is easier for boys to be natural, than for girls,"
said Miss. Juno.

"Yes, boys are naturally more natural," replied Paul with much
confidence.

Miss. Juno smiled an amused smile.

Paul resumed--"I hardly ever knew a girl who didn't wish herself a boy.
Did you ever see a boy who wanted to be a girl?"

"I've seen some who ought to have been girls--and who would have made
very droll girls. I know an old gentleman who used to bewail the
degeneracy of the age and exclaim in despair, 'Boys will be girls!'"
laughed Miss. Juno.

"Horrible thought! But why is it that girlish boys are so unpleasant
while tom-boys are delightful?"

"I don't know," replied she, "unless the girlish boy has lost the charm
of his sex, that is manliness; and the tom-boy has lost the defect of
hers--a kind of selfish dependence."

"I'm sure the girls like you, don't they?'' he added.

"Not always; and there are lots of girls I can't endure!"

"I've noticed that women who are most admired by women are seldom
popular with men; and that the women the men go wild over are little
appreciated by their own sex," said Paul.

"Yes, I've noticed that; as for myself my best friends are masculine;
but when I was away at boarding-school my chum, who was immensely
popular, used to call me Jack!"

"How awfully jolly; may I call you 'Jack' and will you be my chum?"

"Of course I will; but what idiots the world would think us."

"Who cares?" cried he defiantly. "There are millions of fellows this
very moment w