She thought laughter an unfailing specific for most of the ills of
life. "We can none of us be thankful enough for the sensation," she
said. "Nothing relieves the mental oppression, which does such moral
and physical harm, like mirth; of course, I mean legitimate laughter,
not levity, nor the ill-natured rejoicing of small minds in such
subjects for sorrow as their neighbours' faults, follies, and mistakes.
What I am thinking of is the pleasure without excitement which there is
in sympathetic intercourse with those large, loving natures that
elevate, and the laughter without bitterness which is always a part of
it."

Like most people whose goodness is neither affected nor acquired, but
natural to them, Ideala saw no merit in her own works, and would not
take the credit she deserved for them; nor would she have had her good
deeds known at all if she could have helped it. But knowledge of these
things leaks out somehow, although probably not a third of what she did
will ever be even suspected.




CHAPTER II.


Speaking to me of women one day, she said: "Certainly they are
_vainqueurs des vainqueurs de la terre_ in any sense they choose; but
the pity of it is that they do not choose to exercise their power for
good to any great extent. I agree with Madame Bernier--if it were
Madame Bernier--who said: _'L'ignorance où les femmes sont de leurs
devoirs, l'abus qu'elles font de leur puissance, leur font perdre le