mile at such remarks,
while conscious that their devotion to their nephew has not only
secured his happiness, but constitutes their own; and that the warmth
of affection for which they are censured, cheers the winter of their
lives and diffuses a comfort over their existence unknown to the
selfish mortals who live only for self.

They talked to me last night of the happiness they anticipated in
seeing their nephew married. "He is so good, so excellent, that the
person he selects cannot fail to love him fondly," said La Chanoinesse;
"and we will love her so dearly for ensuring his happiness," added the
other sister.

Who could know these two estimable women, without acknowledging how
harsh and unjust are often the sweeping censures pronounced on those
who are termed old maids?--a class in whose breasts the affections
instinct in woman, not being exercised by conjugal or maternal ties,
expand into some other channel; and, if denied some dear object on
which to place them, expends them on the domestic animals with which,
in default of more rational favourites, they surround themselves.

Les Dames de B----, happier than many of the spinsters of their age,
have an estimable object to bestow their affections on; but those who
are less fortunate should rather excite our pity than ridicule, for
many and severe must have been the trials of that heart which turns at
last, _dans le besoin d'aimer_, to the bird, dog, or cat, that renders
solitude less lonely.

The difference between servitude in England and in France often strikes
me, and more especially when I hear the frequent complaints made by
English people of the insolence and familiarity of French servants.
Unaccustomed to hear a servant reply to any censure passed on him, the
English are apt to consider his doing so as a want of respect or
subordination, though a French servant does not even dream that he is
guilty of either when, according to the general habit of his class and
country, he attempts an exculpation not always satisfactory to his
employer, however it may be to himself.

A French master listens to the explanation patiently, or at least
without any demonstration of anger, unless he finds it is not based on
truth, when he reprehends the servant in a manner that satisfies the
latter that all future attempts to avoid blame by misrepresentation
will be unavailing. French servants imagine that they have the right to
explain, and their employers do not deny it;