I see; you are now at the
height of your power,--'_jeune Madame, un mari qui vous adore_,' ready
to put all things under your feet. How can you feel for a worn, lonely
heart like mine, that sighs for congeniality?"

"Bless me, now," said Lillie, briskly; "you don't tell me that you're
going to be so silly as to get in love with Charlie yourself! It's all
well enough to keep these fellows on the tragic high ropes; but, if
a woman falls in love herself, there's an end of her power. And,
darling, just think of it: you wouldn't have married that creature if
you could; he's poor as a rat, and always will be; these desperately
interesting fellows always are. Now you have money without end; and of
course you have position; and your husband is a man you can get any
thing in the world out of."

"Oh! as to that, I don't complain of Dick," said Mrs. Follingsbee:
"he's coarse and vulgar, to be sure, but he never stands in my way,
and I never stand in his; and, as you say, he's free about money. But
still, darling, sometimes it seems to me such a weary thing to live
without sympathy of soul! A marriage without congeniality, _mon Dieu_,
what is it? And then the harsh, cold laws of human society prevent any
relief. They forbid natures that are made for each other from being to
each other what they can be."

"You mean that people will talk about you," said Lillie. "Well, I
assure you, dearest, they _will_ talk awfully, if you are not very
careful. I say this to you frankly, as your friend, you know."

"Ah, _ma petite_! you don't need to tell me that. I _am_ careful,"
said Mrs. Follingsbee. "I am always lecturing Charlie, and showing him
that we must keep up _les convenances_; but is it not hard on us poor
women to lead always this repressed, secretive life?"

"What made you marry Mr. Follingsbee?" said Lillie, with apparent
artlessness.

"Darling, I was but a child. I was ignorant of the mysteries of my own
nature, of my capabilities. As Charlie said to me the other day, we
never learn what we are till some congenial soul unlocks the secret
door of our hearts. The fact is, dearest, that American society, with
its strait-laced, puritanical notions, bears terribly hard on woman's
heart. Poor Charlie! he is no less one of the victims of society."

"Oh, nonsense!" said Lillie. "You take it too much to heart. You
mustn't mind all these men say. They are always being desperate and
tragic. Charlie has talked just so to me, time and ti