Sanford Bell believes that at a certain period during childhood, namely, between eight and twelve years of age, manifestations of love are less noticeable than either earlier or later. He alleges as the reason of this that at this particular age the child tends to conceal its fondness from others, and perhaps even from the person beloved; hence it is difficult during these years to observe the phenomena. According to this view, the difference is apparent merely, and depends only upon greater secretiveness. It may, indeed, be regarded as proved that in the course of development, especially in the case of boys, there are certain years during which children are less inclined to seek the company of those of the opposite sex than either before or afterwards. This occurs especially during the period of hobbledehoyhood, during which boys take pleasure above all in rough sports. It has, indeed, been suggested that this phenomenon has a teleological significance, that nature is here pursuing a quite definite aim, to minimise by means of sexual antipathy the danger attendant on the awakening of the sexual impulse. We must not, however, over-value this self-help of the part of nature [if it exists], since, if boys and girls avoid one another, the perverse activities of the undifferentiated sexual impulse may very readily appear in place of the suppressed heterosexual manifestations. In the child, the moods of the amatory sentiment are exceedingly variable. To-day, the love may be romantic in character; to-morrow, on the other hand, rather sensual. To-day, a girl is enamoured of some friend of her father's; to-morrow, she is in love with some little friend of her brother's, or with one of her schoolmasters. A little later, a member of her own sex becomes the object of passion, a girl-friend of her own, or some actress of note. In general, especially, too, when the stage of the undifferentiated impulse has not been well-marked, we notice that as the years pass the inclination gradually comes to relate to older persons. Since the period of childhood embraces a comparatively small number of years, it is naturally not easy to establish this point with mathematical precision; but I have been led to form such an opinion by questioning a large number of persons of either sex. In this respect we sometimes observe that which, in the _Satyricon_ of Petronius, Quartilla said long ago, when young Giton is united to the seven-year-old Pannychis. In free phraseology, Quartilla assures us that she has no remembrance of ever having been a virgin. "When I was a child, I made use of children for this purpose; as I became older, bigger boys served my turn; and thus, from stage to stage, I attained my present age."