All seemed to infer, that the amicable gauntlet, which had been thrown
down, having been courteously taken up, the ungloved hands were
forthwith to be grasped in token of good fellowship; we had left our
_names_ for them, and by the invitations that poured in upon us, they
seemed to say with Juliet--


"And _for_ thy _name_, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself."


No man, not even a provincial, can visit every body; and it seems but
fair, that if a selection is to be made, all should interchange the
hospitalities of life with those persons in whose society they feel the
greatest enjoyment.

Many a dinner, therefore, did we decline--many a route did we reject; my
husband's popularity tottered, and the inviters, though they no longer
dinned their dinners in our ears, and teazed us with their "teas," vowed
secret vengeance, and muttered "curses, not loud, but deep."

I have hinted that we had no scandalous capabilities; and though slander
flashed around us, we seldom admitted morning visiters, and our
street-door was a non-conductor.

But our next door neighbours were maiden ladies, who _had been_ younger,
and, to use a common term of commiseration, had seen better days--by
which, I mean the days of bloom, natural hair, partners, and the
probability of husbands.