Often the girl has to show herself the stronger under such circumstances, and then her task is doubly hard, for she has to battle against her own heart’s pleadings as well as those of her lover. I do not believe that any girl who shows her courage and self-devotion in such a manner will have cause to regret in the long run. If the man is worthy of her affection, he will love her the better for the motives which have induced her to refuse him. He will have realised the cost to herself, and will determine that it shall not be in vain. Knowing that he cannot give her such a home as would deserve the name, and that marriage on such a slender or uncertain income would mean privation, constant struggling to make ends meet, probably debt as an additional burden, he will resolve to work the harder and possess his soul in patience until brighter days dawn for both of them. He will say, “What is worth having is worth both working and waiting for,” and he will redouble his efforts to shorten the time of probation. Each will be cheered by the thought, “It was for her sake I kept silent,” or “It was for his sake I said ‘No,’ not my own.” I have often been consulted by girls who, having seen my own happy married life, have decided that I must be an authority on things pertaining thereto. But, alas, it has also often happened that the applicant for advice only wished me to confirm her own foolish decision. One case recurs to my mind after the lapse of many years. The _fiancée_, orphaned as an infant, had been brought up, educated, and cared for by relatives. She was a good pianist, and had early found a groove in which to earn a livelihood, always having in addition the certainty of a home with those who had brought her up, should she need it. Past her first girlhood, at twenty-nine she engaged herself to a young man eight years her junior, inferior to herself in social position, education, speech, and manner, and with a weekly income of twenty-five shillings, no other money, and relatives who rather needed help than were likely to give it. She came to ask if I would smooth matters with the relatives, who were grieved and indignant at her folly in thinking of such a union. A little questioning elicited the facts that her savings were to furnish the cottage, pay the wedding expenses, including the bridegroom’s new suit, and that rent alone would absorb six out of the weekly twenty-five shillings. She could not retain her position after marriage, but she hoped to earn something by giving music lessons. Need I tell you what eloquence I wasted on this wilful young woman, who was old enough to know better, but too old and obstinate to be convinced against her will. I brought figures to bear, put the cost of the barest necessaries opposite to that nineteen shillings of weekly income after payment of rent. But it was all useless. She did not want to be convicted of rashness and folly, but to induce others to agree to them.