It may be urged that all proper heroines go through a period of
uncertainty before giving their hands and hearts in marriage.
Occasionally, however, there are longer seasons of indecision,
incident to pride, high temper, or misunderstanding on the lady's
side, or to poverty, undue timidity, or lack of high pressure on the
part of the gentleman. I have christened the heroines of this volume
"Ladies-in-Waiting," and that no mental picture may be formed of Queen
and Court and Maids of Honor I have asked the artist to portray for
the frontispiece a marriageable maiden seated pensively upon a
hillside. Her attitude is plainly one of suspended animation while the
new moon above her shoulders suggests to the reader that she will not
wait in vain.