the presence of her
husband, to entertain the dogma of infallibility: though she admitted
that the cardinals were showy; she would have liked one about her house,
say, as a footman. She thought there was a great deal in Buddhism (she
had read "The Light of Asia" nearly through), and she believed that
the Rev. George Holland had been badly treated by Phyllis Ayrton.
She admitted having been young once--only once; but no one seemed to
remember it against her, so she was obliged to talk about it herself,
which she did with the lightness of a serious woman of thirty-two. When
a man had assured her that she was still handsome, she had shaken her
head deprecatingly, and had ignored his existence ever after. She had
her doubts regarding the justice of eternal punishment for temporary
lapses in the West End, but she sympathized with the missionary who
said: "Thank God we have still got our hell in the East End." She knew
that all men are alike in the sight of Heaven, but she thought that the
licensing justices should be more particular.

She believed that there were some good men.

She had more than once talked seriously to Phyllis on the subject of
George Holland. Of course, George Holland had been indiscreet; the views
expressed in his book had shocked his best friends, but think how famous
that book had made him, in spite of the publication of Mr. Courtland's
"Quest of the Meteor-Bird." Was Phyllis not acting unkindly, not to say
indiscreetly, in throwing over a man who, it was rumored, was about to
start a new religion? She herself, Lady Earlscourt admitted, had been
very angry with George Holland for writing something that the newspapers
found it to their advantage to abuse so heartily; and Lord Earlscourt,
being a singularly sensitive man, had been greatly worried by the
comments which had been passed upon his discrimination in intrusting to
a clergyman who could bring himself to write "Revised Versions" a cure
of such important souls as were to be found at St. Chad's. He had, in
fact, been so harassed--he was a singularly sensitive man--that he had
found it absolutely necessary to run across to Paris from time to time
for a change of scene. (This was perfectly true. Lord Earlscourt had
gone more than once to Paris for a change of scene, and had found it;
Lady Earlscourt was thirty-two, and wore evangelical boots.) But,
of course, since George Holland's enterprise had turned out so well
socially, people who entertained c