womanly; wicked men because she is good in their eyes; good men because
she is wicked in theirs.'

'She must be a very anomalous sort of woman, at that rate.'

'Yes. Like the British Constitution, she owes her success in practice to
her inconsistencies in principle.'

'These poems must have set her up. She appears to be quite the correct
spectacle. Happy Mrs. Petherwin!'

The subject of their dialogue was engaged in a conversation with Mrs.
Belmaine upon the management of households--a theme provoked by a
discussion that was in progress in the pages of some periodical of the
time. Mrs. Belmaine was very full of the argument, and went on from
point to point till she came to servants.

The face of Ethelberta showed caution at once.

'I consider that Lady Plamby pets her servants by far too much,' said
Mrs. Belmaine. 'O, you do not know her? Well, she is a woman with
theories; and she lends her maids and men books of the wrong kind for
their station, and sends them to picture exhibitions which they don't in
the least understand--all for the improvement of their taste, and morals,
and nobody knows what besides. It only makes them dissatisfied.'

The face of Ethelberta showed venturesomeness. 'Yes, and dreadfully
ambitious!' she said.

'Yes, indeed. What a turn the times have taken! People of that sort