yea, yea, and nay, nay, of her
communication.

To a certain extent she had what she had sold herself for; outside pomp
and show in plenty--carriages, horses, servants, jewels, and clothes.
Sir Peter liked, to use his own expression, "to see my lady blaze
away"--only she must blaze away in his fashion, not hers. He declared he
did not know how long he might remain in Elberthal; spoke vaguely of
"business at home," about which he was waiting to hear, and said that
until he heard the news he wanted, he could not move from the place he
was in. He was in excellent spirits at seeing his wife chafing under the
confinement to a place she detested, and appeared to find life sweet.

Meanwhile she, using her liberty, as I said, to the utmost extent, had
soon plunged into the midst of the fastest set in Elberthal.

There was a fast set there as there was a musical set, an artistic set,
a religious set, a free-thinking set; for though it was not so large or
so rich as many dull, wealthy towns in England, it presented from its
mixed inhabitants various phases of society.

This set into which Adelaide had thrown herself was the fast one; a
coterie of officers, artists, the richer merchants and bankers, medical
men, literati, and the young (and sometimes old) wives, sisters and
daughters of the same; many of them priding themselves upon not being
natives of Elberthal, but coming from larger and gayer towns--Berlin,
Dresden, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and others.

They led a gay enough life among themselves--a life of theater, concert,
and opera-going, of dances, private at home, public at the Malkasten or
Artists' Club, flirtations, marriages, engagements, disappointments, the
usual dreary and monotonous round. They considered themselves the only
society worthy the name in Elberthal, and whoever was not of their set
was _niemand_.

I was partly dragged, partly I went to a certain extent of my own will,
into this vortex. I felt myself to have earned a larger experience now
of life and life's realities. I questioned when I should once have
discreetly inclined the head and held my peace. I had a mind to examine
this clique and the characters of some of its units, and see in what it
was superior to some other acquaintances (in an humbler sphere) with
whom my lot had been cast. As time went on I found the points of
superiority to decrease--those of inferiority rapidly to increase.

I troubled myself little about them and their opinions. My