Leonard Merrick

“ She was a Chiffon Girl. She had gone over to Paris with his sister, and been taken to see Dick's studio. Tea and twaddle!—he admitted she didn't know anything about art. 'Girlish,' he called her; I could imagine her in the studio—saying an artist's work must be 'such fun,' and calling every picture 'sweet'!
"By what he said, it seemed to me she was treating him pretty badly, for all she was so 'girlish.' She wasn't satisfied to accept him, and she wasn't satisfied to let him go. Didn't want to marry a poor man, but didn't want to lose his admiration. ”

“ He turned up the next afternoon; and it was 'Dick!' and 'Pat!' and 'Well, it is good to see you again!' You know! The first few minutes were jolly. Then I saw that he was keeping something back.
"I said, 'What you're going to do, is to sit down there and tell me all about it. You're in trouble, and I want to hear.'
"‘What a brick you are!' he exclaimed—a man's always astonished when you notice anything that's as plain as a pillar-box; a woman would have been waiting for me to say it from the moment she came into the room. ”

“ Are you sure the game's worth the chandler's shop? Girls are good fun at a dance, or to flirt with up the river, but to settle down with one of them for life, dear boy!—a fellow's got to reckon up the cost!'
"Of course, he wouldn't listen—told me I was a confirmed Bachelor Girl and couldn't understand.
"‘If you'd ever been fond of anybody yourself,' he said, 'you'd know that, when one really loves, nothing else matters. I don't mind what I "sink," I don't mind the cost; I want Rosie—she's worth all the pictures in the world.'
"‘Sh!' I said, 'don't blaspheme! ”