this Girl was so Foxy that at times she got in front of herself
and blocked off her own Plays. Her scheme for getting all the Real
Boys intoxified with Love for her was to engage them in Conversation
and find out what kind of Girls they liked. Then her Play was to be
that Kind. She had no Difficulty whatever in inducing her Men Friends
to talk about the Opposite Sex. They were all keyed up on the Subject
and full of Information. Just as a Feeler one Evening she asked an
eligible Charley if he didn't think that the Woman of To-day was too
Extravagant.

"That's just why so many of us shy at the Matrimonial Jump," he
confided to her. "There was a time when the Man who got $75 per
Month and had about $200 planted could take a Chance at the Game.
But now that measly Allowance wouldn't keep a High Roller supplied
with Violets. The up-to-date Maudine isn't happy unless she has a
Gray-Squirrel Coat, an Auto Car, $11,000 worth of Twinklers and a
fourteen-room Apartment. That's why these Society Shawl-Holders keep
on making Love right and left but never come down to Cases."

This was a valuable Tip, so the crafty Maiden put it down in her
little Note-Book that she who would make a Hit must convince the Men
that her Tastes were simple and inexpensive. Another one gave her
a learned Talk on the frivolity and Two-by-Fourness of the typical
Seraphine.

[Illustration: _Nice Men._]

"You cannot expect a Man to hand over his serious Affections to one of
these Feather-Heads," he said, as he gazed thoughtfully at the Floor.
"Woman should be Man's Intellectual Helpmeet. Now and then a Man
may have a Passing Fancy for a Lizzie who talks Piffle and gets an
Attack of the Giggles every few Seconds, but when it comes to the
grand Hook-Up he wants one who is there with the Gray Matter--one who
can play up to his loftiest Ambitions and supply his Home with that
Atmosphere of Culture which is the true Ozone of Married Life."

So she put it down that it was her Cue to chop out the Twaddle and be
a sort of Lady Emerson. Incidentally she resolved to cut out all kinds
of Slang, for she got a very straight Line of Talk from an Amateur
Philosopher who was in the Wholesale Grocery Business.

"If there's anything that gives me a quick, shooting Pain it is to
hear some delicate Nectarine dealing out Slang," said Mr. Gentleman
Friend. "Now in England, where I spent Two Weeks once, the Ladies
never use Slang. They simply say that a Thing is either Pe