"Have no anxiety on that score, Mr.West," he replied.

"The Creator took very good care that whatever other modifications the dispositions of men and women might with time take on, their attraction for each other should remain constant.

The mere fact that in an age like yours, when the struggle for existence must have left people little time for other thoughts, and the future was so uncertain that to assume parental responsibilities must have often seemed like a criminal risk, there was even then marrying and giving in marriage, should be conclusive on this point.

As for love nowadays, one of our authors says that the vacuum left in the minds of men and women by the absence of care for one's livelihood has been entirely taken up by the tender passion.

That, however, I beg you to believe, is something of an exaggestion.