who
re-enters a moment later._]

_Mr. A._ You--a--haven't fixed my coat, I see.

_Mrs. A._ (_with a guilty start_). I--I forgot it!

_Gibbering Fiend Conscience._ Ha, ha! Ho, ho!

_Curtain falls amid chorus of exulting demons._

* * * * *

I have reserved for the close numerous instances of woman's facility at
badinage and repartee. It is there, after all, that she shines perennial
and pre-eminent. You will excuse me if I give them to you one after
another without comment, like a closing display of fireworks.

And first let me quote from Mrs. Rollins, as an instance of the way in
which women often react upon each other in repartee, a little
conversation which it was once her privilege to overhear:

"_Margaret._ I wonder you never have been married, Kate. Of course
you've had lots of chances. Won't you tell us how many?

"_Kate._ No, indeed! I could not so cruelly betray my rejected lovers.

"_Helen._ Of course you wouldn't tell us _exactly_; but would you mind
giving it to us in round numbers?

"_Kate._ Certainly not; the roundest number of all exactly expresses the
chances I have had.

"_Charlotte_ (_with a sigh_). Now I know what people mean by Kate's
_circle of admirers_!"

* * * * *

A lady was discussing the relative merits and demerits of the two sexes
with a gentleman of her acquaintance. After much badinage on one side
and the other, he said: "Well, you never yet heard of casting seven
devils out of a man." "No," was the quick retort, "_they've got 'em
yet_!"

* * * * *

"What would you do in time of war if you had the suffrage?" said Horace
Greeley to Mrs. Stanton.

"Just what you have done, Mr. Greeley," replied the ready lady; "stay at
home and urge others to go and fight!"

* * * * *

It was Margaret Fuller who worsted Mrs. Greeley in a verbal encounter.
The latter had a decided aversion to kid gloves, and on meeting Margaret
shrank from her extended hand with a shudder, saying: "Ugh! Skin of a
beast! skin of a beast!"

"Why," said Miss Fuller, in surprise, "what do you wear?"

"_Silk_," said Mrs. Greeley, stretching out her palm with satisfaction.

Miss Fuller just touched it, saying, with a disgusted expression, "Ugh!
entrails of a worm! entrails of a worm!"

* * * * *

Mademoiselle de Mars, the former favorite of the