talk about love who know
nothing at all about it."

Christopher manfully repressed a smile. "Still, I have known quite
intelligent persons do that. They make mistakes, I admit, but they don't
know that they do; and so their ignorance is of the brand which the poet
describes as bliss."

"People who have never been in love should never talk about it,"
Elisabeth sagely remarked.

"But, on the other hand, those who have been, as a rule, can't; so who
is to conduct authorized conversations on this most interesting and
instructive subject?"

"The people who have been through it, and so know all about it," replied
Elisabeth.

"Allow me to point out that your wisdom for once is at fault. In the
first place, I doubt if the man who is suffering from a specific disease
is the suitable person to read a paper on the same before the College
of Surgeons; and, in the second, I should say--for the sake of
argument--that the man who has been through eternity and come out whole
at the other end, knows as much about what eternity really means
as--well, as you do. But tell me more about Mrs. Herbert and her
peculiarities."

"She is always bothering about what she calls the 'correct thing.' She
has no peace in her life on account of her anxiety as to the etiquette
of this world and the next--first to know it and then to be guided by
it. I am sure that she wishes that the Bible had been written on the
principle of that dreadful little book called Don't, which gives you a
list of the solecisms you should avoid; she would have understood it so
much better than the present system."

"But you would call Miss Herbert a lady, wouldn't you?" Christopher
asked.

"Oh, yes; a perfect lady. She is even well-bred when she talks about her
love affairs; and if a woman is a lady when she talks about her love
affairs, she will be a lady in any circumstances. It is the most crucial
test out."

"Yes; I should have called Miss Herbert a perfect lady myself."'

"That is the effect of Fox How; it always turned out ladies, whatever
else it failed in."

"But I thought you maintained that it failed in nothing!"

"No more it did; but I threw that in as a sop to what's-his-name,
because you are so horribly argumentative."

Christopher was amused. Elisabeth was a perfect _chef_ in the preparing
of such sops, as he was well aware; and although he laughed at himself
for doing it (knowing that her present graciousness to him merely meant
that she was du