modern principle of magnifying the small motive till it overshadows my
noble heroine. I remember that the small motive is only to be seen by
being borne into the range of my vision by a powerful microscope; and if
I do more than see--if I carry on my reflections by the aid of the glass,
I arrive at conclusions that must be false. Men who dwarf human nature
do this. The gods are juster. The Countess, though she wished to remain
for the pic-nic, and felt warm in anticipation of the homage to her new
dress, was still a gallant general and a devoted sister, and if she said
to herself, 'Come what may, I will stay for that pic-nic, and they shall
not brow-beat me out of it,' it is that trifling pleasures are noisiest
about the heart of human nature: not that they govern us absolutely.
There is mob-rule in minds as in communities, but the Countess had her
appetites in excellent drill. This pic-nic surrendered, represented to
her defeat in all its ignominy. The largest longest-headed of schemes
ask occasionally for something substantial and immediate. So the
Countess stipulated with Providence for the pic-nic. It was a point to
be passed: 'Thorough flood, thorough fire.'

In vain poor Andrew Cogglesby, to whom the dinner had been torture, and
who was beginning to see the position they stood in at Beckley, begged to
be allowed to take them away, or to go alone. The Countess laughed him
into submission. As a consequence of her audacious spirits she grew more
charming and more natural, and the humour that she possessed, but which,
like her other faculties, was usually subordinate to her plans, gave
spontaneous bursts throughout the day, and delighted her courtiers. Nor
did the men at all dislike the difference of her manner with them, and
with the ladies. I may observe that a woman who shows a marked
depression in the presence of her own sex will be thought very superior
by ours; that is, supposing she is clever and agreeable. Manhood
distinguishes what flatters it. A lady approaches. 'We must be proper,'