ave not distinguished with sufficient care, Miss
Holden, between satire and cynicism. I daresay there is a strain of
satire in my composition, but I do not plead guilty to cynicism. A
cynic is a surly, misanthropical man, with a disordered liver and a
contempt for the good things of life."

"Oh, Grace!" murmured Rose in pathetic tones, "how could you!"

"Nonsense!" I said, "I am not going to allow you to pretend to take me
seriously. Do you think I subjected the word to subtle analysis before
I adopted it? I tell you it came to me as an inspiration, heaven-born,
doubtless, but if you don't like it pray forget it; and for your
comfort I will add that I have never attached to the word the meaning
you read into it. I know you have no contempt for art and poetry and
the good things of life. Now tell us what you see before you?"

I wished to change the subject, and referred simply to the view, as
anyone might have known. Night was dropping her blue curtain as
gently, as silently, as the nurse spreads the coverlet over the
sleeping babe; but the stupid man professed to misunderstand me.

"I see before me," he replied, "two interesting specimens of the sex
which ruins the peace and creates the paradise of the bulk of mankind.
I would call them charming but for the fear that my candour might be
mistaken for cajolery, which my soul abhorreth."

"Oh, please stop this!" I pleaded, but Rose said: "Let him ramble on,"
and he continued:

"The one whom I judge to be the elder is tall and well proportioned.
She has a fairly deep brow which indicates some intellectual power, but
whether this is modified or intensified by cranial depressions and
protuberances, a mass of dark hair, arranged in a fashion that beggars
my feeble powers of description, hides from my eyes.

"Her mouth is firm, and set above a determined chin, which would lead
me to conclude that she has a will of her own and is accustomed to
exercise it; but her eyes are tender and pleading, and so near the
reservoir of her emotions that the waters readily overflow, and this in
some measure counteracts the qualities of the chin. She has a pretty
wit and a ready tongue--usually--and has lived long enough to be
convinced of her own powers; rather masterful with the world at large,
but not mistress of herself."

"Thank you!" I interrupted. He bowed.

"She dresses with taste and has tidy and methodical habits; is ever
ready with sympathy, but would never care de