Spoke softly to a schoolgirl with love in her heart (5)
I believe the answer is:
cooed
'spoke softly' is the definition.
('coo' can be a synonym of 'speak softly')
'schoolgirl with love in her heart' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'love' could be 'o' (love means zero in tennis) and 'o' is present in the answer.
'schoolgirl' could be 'coed' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'coed' is found in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'to a' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cooed that I've seen before include "Spoke fondly" , "Sounded delighted" .)