was morally and in respect of all action thin very thin indeed and just when i was touching the lowest deep of this unpleasant but no doubt depth of self when i was becoming literally out by the heavy weight of my own enter unto me mrs she the emerged from the glass doors of the and beaming dear me now mr she exclaimed this is what i really do call a piece of luck i have been so wishing all the morning i had some lady friend to talk it all over with and you see i have nothing but acquaintances here and i never can get over the feeling it isn t very suitable to be intimate with the people you just meet travelling you see you don t really know anything about them nor how they live and how many servants they keep and how they behave at home it s so easy for anybody to look respectable on the continent and re so afraid if you take to them it may make afterwards aren t you all of which certainly did not come very much under the head of adventurous and vigorous living failing other female acquaintances of well position good mrs took me i was to the modest position of the safe she gossip to that of the maiden aunt for a moment the eternal masculine in me � for the eternal masculine does exist just as actually as the eternal feminine though it happens at the present time not to have so fashionable a as the latter � arose in revolt but in my present condition of self it only for a moment had fallen very low in my own estimation i was almost willing to regard myself as the nothing better than an example of and you have always taken such a kind interest in our dear young people she continued that i know you will be pleased to hear everything is so con settled she confronted me her worthy with smiles but unfortunately the searching morning light did not suit my present companion as well as the scarlet figure that had been my late inspiration and torment mrs s appearance invariably suggested the thought that she was wearing out her last year s sunday gown the present example of that economical habit was green enriched by steel and ornaments in the region of the waist where they took the form of strings of bearing an to full dress her grey hair smoothly on the brow was in hue from the too lavish application of some it was moreover surmounted by a lace and ribbon cap in form and colour curiously resembling a egg what remained to her of her raised to a permanently surprised height pushed her forehead up into innumerable lines i found it impossible to dislike mrs she was too perfectly simple and genuine a being yet to me just now she proved for the tone of her profoundly the voice her comfortable and somewhat figure even the last few words she had spoken recalled irresistibly to my mind that mysterious the monthly nurse whom to my terror i meet at the which the house of my excellent little married sister unable to my mind of this association of ideas i answered mrs slightly at random i am delighted to hear it i am to understand you then that they are both doing very well oh very well mrs replied with indeed mr between ourselves i think s a very fortunate girl for has really being doing better than could have been expected the phrase was a little astonishing but i retained my presence of mind good news upon good news i exclaimed this is capital so it is and i am sure i feel very thankful and so does mr her eyebrows still higher for of course we ve had our at times mr you see we lost our dear little boy as an infant so she s our only child the tenderness of the maternal passion found quite moving expression in mrs s homely countenance i o the and being so remarkable and gifted as she is we have sometimes wondered whether we ought to let things go on often and often since we ve been here mr s woke me in the night to talk about it � specially since mrs ms came and we couldn t help seeing what an interest mr took in mr s a dreadfully poor when he has anything on his mind i am sure if i ve asked him once i ve asked him a dozen times � my dear what does make you so restless and he always answers � s marriage mamma s marriage it s not too late yet to interfere she must not be permitted to throw herself away a most proper sentiment on the part of your husband i said i am so pleased to know you think that for sometimes i have been afraid mr was inclined to place his hopes too high and that it wouldn t bring a blessing you see there s a great deal said about not taking too much thought in the bible and � i it is because i don t understand very quickly � these new do explain a great many of those difficulties in the they tell me � but sometimes i was frightened lest we should be asking too much for here mrs placed herself in a chair hers was not the style of figure which can be described the i i as gracefully permitting its possessor to sit down i cannot pretend that mrs was classic in her attitudes she invariably sat up her smiles had rather beneath the disturbing influences of criticism � now they shone forth again dear me she exclaimed how pleasant it is to have a little chat i though i don t know that i ought to be so confidential 