ve shared each other's pranks and
penalties, do wake up one day to find a new element asserting itself
in their intercourse. A certain shyness springs up between them only
to be dispelled by fuller, sweeter comradeship. This development
sometimes takes place during a period of separation, or when a
possible rival appears on the scene. It usually assumes concrete form
in the man's mind first. He may hide his love under the guise of
friendship till he feels he has a right to make it known. It may be
that he has to go abroad to seek the wherewithal to start a home, and
when he has succeeded he will write some such letter as this:--

"My Dear Clari,--When I threw up my berth at home you wondered why I
was in such a hurry to leave the old country, and home, and you, and
it was very hard not to tell you the real reason. I came out here to
make enough money to set up housekeeping, and, dear, I want you to
come and help me, now I have succeeded so far. I know it is a
tremendous thing to ask, and that I am entirely unworthy of the
sacrifice you would be making; but, dear, we know each other pretty
well by this, and I hope you can trust yourself to me. If you only
knew how I have longed to tell you this through the last two years of
our sweet, but to me unsatisfying, friendship you would not keep me in
suspense any longer than you can help. You have been the one thought
and object of my life ever since I came out, and I have lived in fear
of some other fellow getting in before me.

I think I must always have loved you, it seems a part of myself, but
it was your first ball that woke me up.

Let me know soon, dear.--Ever and always your devoted

"GORDON."

However the change from friendship to love comes about, the man must be
just as courteous as if she had only crossed {35} his path in the
fulness of her young womanhood. He must not take her for granted because
he knew her in pinafores, nor slight her sensibilities because he taught
her to climb trees. If he is negligent other men will supply his
deficiencies. As a lover he is bound to appear in a new light, and he
must look to it that he does not suffer by the change. The friend
ought to make the best lover, for he knows the tastes and weaknesses,
the temperament and surroundings of the woman he has chosen. They will
be bound by countless old associations, but this very familiarity may
breed, not contempt, but a matter-of-fact