Outcries came from the dowagers: What! throw themselves at men’s heads in that way! how scandalous! and how silly! Do they think then that men are so stupid as not to consider serious qualities? For their amusement indeed they like the coming-on disposition, but not for marriage: it is Cinderella that attracts Prince Charming. Anne of France cites an illustration in point: three young Germans of the highest distinction arrived one day from the heart of their distant wilds with the sole object of wedding the three maids of Poitiers, of whom marvellous tales were told. It was a terrible shock when they found themselves each face to face with his own fair damsel. The first had so squeezed her waist that she well-nigh fell inanimate into the arms of her wooer, who was thoroughly put out; the second chattered like a very magpie; the third rather naïvely displayed a sentimentality in the latest mode; and the upshot was that, with never a word to one another, the three Germans were soon stride for stride footing it back to Germany. And Anne’s conclusion is very reasonable: “Would it not have been better to cultivate a staider manner?” But it remained to be proved whether a staider manner would be right after all, and whether a princess, of however high descent, could indulge in the luxury of waiting at the chimney-corner until the man of her dreams was pleased to appear. Unhappily the contrary was the general belief. Someone has remarked that if men do not often marry the girl who pleases them, they do not always marry the girl who displeases them. And that is just the reason flirtation held its own. The art of flirting is a very subtle one, and yet it is incredible how little time was required to bring it to perfection. Everybody had to do with it: even princesses wanted to fancy that they chose their husbands. The young girl “came out” into the world in two ways. If she had no mother, or her parents found it convenient to separate themselves from her, there was in France a patriarchal custom, peculiar to that country, which consisted in the girl’s entering the service of a “dame” or “demoiselle” of good repute. So highly was this custom esteemed, that Anne of France recommended her daughter to conform to it should occasion arise, although the heiress of the duchy of Bourbon had certainly no need of entering anyone’s service to push her way in the world.