The girl's choice is
confined to lovers able to pay the price demanded, if not by the
beloved herself, by those acting on her behalf. But would a
daughter of the Working Classes ever hesitate, other things being
equal, between Mayfair and Seven Dials?"
"Let me ask you one," chimed in the Girton Girl. "Would a
bricklayer hesitate any longer between a duchess and a scullery-
maid?"
"But duchesses don't fall in love with bricklayers," returned the
Minor Poet. "Now, why not? The stockbroker flirts with the
barmaid--cases have been known; often he marries her. Does the lady
out shopping ever fall in love with the waiter at the bun-shop?
Hardly ever. Lordlings marry ballet girls, but ladies rarely put
their heart and fortune at the feet of the Lion Comique. Manly
beauty and virtue are not confined to the House of Lords and its
dependencies. How do you account for the fact that while it is
common enough for the man to look beneath him, the woman will almost
invariably prefer her social superior, and certainly never tolerate
her inferior? Why should King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid appear
to us a beautiful legend, while Queen Cophetua and the Tramp would
be ridiculous?"
"The simple explanation is," expounded the Girton Girl, "woman is so
immeasurably man's superior that only by weighting him more or less
heavily with worldly advantages can any semblance of balance be
obtained.
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