d that
some of my models that I have held up triumphantly as examples to prove
the usefulness and necessity of their existence, should have failed me
in the end."

"There is Miss Aylmar, who amassed a fortune by teaching a Ladies'
Seminary. She was a pattern old maid in my estimation. However, much to
my chagrin, when I thought she was nearly ready to receive, after a long
and useful life, the rewards for her good deeds in another world, she
suddenly assumed the airs of a sixteen-year old boarding-school miss,
and, after trying in vain to captivate, by the weight of her golden
attractions, a young and handsome, but penniless professor, succeeded at
length in fastening a respectable widower. She trots him out regularly
every Sunday with that ineffable smirk of satisfaction that only an old
maid can assume. Then there was Miss Anthon, a demure little body, who
wore her gray hair brushed back from her placid face, without resort to
hair dyes, cosmetics, or other rejuvenating articles of the toilet. She
kept her eyes open, though, and in her unobtrusive way, after lying in
wait for her victim all these long and weary years, she suddenly pounced
upon a fortune to reward her patient and persevering efforts. You see,
this woman had no capital of beauty, intellect or money, and so she
assumed the only _role_ that a quaint little creature like her could
carry through successfully. At the risk of her own life, she
courageously sat through a case of malignant typhoid, in the hope of
making an impression upon the heart of a good-looking youth, by
restoring to him his invalid mother. Unfortunately for her purpose, the
old lady died, and, after finding that her disinterested efforts to
captivate the son were in vain, she turned her attention to the task of
consoling the disconsolate widower, and is now mamma-in-law to the man
she wanted to marry."

"You are not presenting a very attractive side of the picture," said the
other, laughing.

"No, but a true one, nevertheless. I wish women would be true to
themselves."

"There is another failing of our sex," said Clemence, "that has often
come under my notice; and it is this: Let a gentleman enter society and
have it whispered around that he is what is called a 'ladies' man,' with
the added interest of one or two sensational anecdotes of a young lady
who went insane out of a hopeless attachment for the gentlemanly
scoundrel; or that this or that infuriated husband who has challenged