remark occurred to him which he felt might have been appropriate if
it had been made earlier in the encounter. He rejected it as
useless, and after another interval a thought came to him which he
saw might have served, if the suspense had not been already so
prolonged; this was also put aside; and after a series of belated
remarks had occurred to him, each of which seemed to be hopelessly
unworthy of the expectation he had excited, the hostess, seeing
that things had gone wrong, came, like Artemis, and led Iphigenia
away, without the philosopher having had the opportunity of
indulging in a single reflection. The experience, he said, was of
so appalling a character, that he set to, and invented a remark
which he said was applicable to persons of all ages and of either
sex, under any circumstances whatever; but, as he would never
reveal this precious possession to the most ardent inquirers, the
secret, whatever it was, has perished with him.

One of my friends has a perfectly unique gift of conversation. He
is a prominent man of affairs, a perfect mine of political secrets.
He is a ready talker, and has the art, both in a tete-a-tete as
well as in a mixed company, of mentioning things which are
extremely interesting, and appear to be hopelessly indiscreet. He
generally accompanies his relation of these incidents with a
request that the subject may not be mentioned outside. The result
is that every one who is brought into contact with him feels that
he is selected by the great man because of some happy gift of
temperament, trustworthiness, or discretion, or even on grounds of
personal importance, to be the recipient of this signal mark of
confidence. On one occasion I endeavoured, after one of these
conversations, not for the sake of betraying him, but in the
interests of a diary which I keep, to formulate in precise and