conscious of herself that she disgusts you. I should call her a regular
Becky Sharp, always managing to get the best of everything, and, as she
told me herself, always having on her list two or three invitations for
as many weeks, to as many different places."

"But how does she do it?" Miss Betsey asked, and Mrs. Jerrold replied:

"I hardly know, nor do the ladies themselves. Sometimes, as in the case
of Mrs. Smithers, the invitation is genuine and sincere, but oftener it
is a mere form at which Daisy jumps at once, thanking the lady sweetly,
and either asking her to fix a time, or more frequently fixing it
herself to suit her own convenience. She has a most wonderful talent,
too, forgetting presents of clothes and jewelry for herself and Bessie,
and that is the way they live, for they have no means, or, at least,
very little, except what she manages to get from the men by philopoenas,
or bets, or games at cards and chess, where they allow her to win,
because she almost begs them to let her do so. She even got five pounds
from my husband on a wager, which he did not at first think in earnest."

And again the black eyes flashed at Button, who now looked up from the
orange he was peeling and said laughingly:

"Yes, Daisy did me out of twenty-five dollars in the neatest possible
manner, and would have fleeced me out of twenty-five more if I had not
been on my guard against her. She got twenty-five pounds out of Lord
Hardy who was a guest at the Smithers', but he acted as if it were a
pleasure to be cheated by so pretty a woman, and she is the prettiest
woman I ever saw."

"Umph!" Miss Betsey said again, while Geraldine continued: