finds herself the object of general attention—­accompanied, it may be, by the display of a little envy among rival beauties—­owing to the assiduous homage of her admirer.  At length, prudence whispers that he is to her, as yet, but a comparative stranger; and with a modest reserve she endeavours to retire from his observation, so as not to seem to encourage his attentions.  The gentleman’s ardour, however, is not to be thus checked; he again solicits her to be his partner in a dance.  She finds it hard, very hard, to refuse him; and both, yielding at last to the alluring influences by which they are surrounded, discover at the moment of parting that a new and delightful sensation has been awakened in their hearts.

At a juncture so critical in the life of a young inexperienced woman as that when she begins to form an attachment for one of the opposite sex—­at a moment when she needs the very best advice accompanied with a considerate regard for her overwrought feelings—­the very best course she can take is to confide the secret of her heart to that truest and most loving of friends—­her mother.  Fortunate is the daughter who has not been deprived of that wisest and tenderest of counsellors—­whose experience of life, whose prudence and sagacity, whose anxious care and appreciation of her child’s sentiments, and whose awakened recollections of her own trysting days, qualify and entitle her above all other beings to counsel and comfort her trusting child, and to claim her confidence.  Let the timid girl then pour forth into her mother’s ear the flood of her pent-up feelings.  Let her endeavour to distrust her own judgment, and seek hope, guidance, and support from one who, she well knows, will not deceive or mislead her.  The confidence thus established will be productive of the most beneficial results—­by securing the daughter’s obedience to her parent’s advice, and her willing adoption of the observances prescribed by etiquette, which, as the courtship progresses, that parent will not fail to recommend as strictly essential in this phase of life.  Where a young woman has had the misfortune to be deprived of her mother, she should at such a period endeavour to find her next best counsellor in some female relative, or other trustworthy friend.

We are to suppose that favourable opportunities for meeting have occurred, until, by-and-by, both the lady and her admirer have come to regard each other with such warm feelings of inclination as to have a constant craving for each other’s society.  Other eyes have in the meantime not failed to notice the symptoms of a growing attachment; and some “kind friends” have, no doubt, even set them down as already engaged.

The admirer of the fair one is, indeed, so much enamoured as to be unable longer to retain his secret within his own breast; and, not being without hope that his attachment is reciprocated, resolves on seeking an introduction to the lady’s family preparatory to his making a formal declaration of love.