ures which I am constantly finding in her.

In certain natures predisposed to happiness, such happy surprises are
prolonged and constantly renewed; and this may be one of the innocent
secrets of the intellect. Are there not a thousand ways of interpreting
a feeling, even as there are a thousand ways of considering an object?
Our mind observes it daily under a different aspect, turns and turns it
again, sees it from above and below, sees it near and from afar and
loves to show it off and place it in the most favourable light. The mind
of every woman, especially of a woman with an artistic bias, is not
without a secret harmony of colour, line and proportion. Something
intentional even enters into it; and the caprices of her soul are often
but an outcome of her desire to please. Her natural instinct, which is
always inclined to give form to the most subtle of her sensations,
enables her to find in goodness the same clinging grace which she loves
in her clothes. She likes her happiness to be obvious and highly
coloured, that it may rejoice the eyes of those around her; and, so as
not to sadden their eyes, she paints the bitterness of her heart in
neutral shades of drab and grey. By thinking herself better, she appears
prettier in her own sight; and it seems to her, as she consults her
mirror, that she is replying to her own destiny. The soft waves of her
hair teach her how frail is her will by the side of her life. She learns
to bestow her own reward on the sympathy of her heart by crowning her
forehead with her two bare arms; and, when she sees the long folds of
her dress winding around her body, she recognises the sinuous, slow, but
determined bent of her feminine power.

I remember once being present at a meeting between two women who gave me
a charming proof of our natural inclination to lend shape and substance
to our thoughts and feelings. They were of different nationalities and
neither of them could speak the other's language. Both were of a warm
and sensitive nature, endowed with an analytical and artistic
temperament; and, as soon as they came together amidst the boredom of a
fashionable crowd, they sat down in a corner and, with the aid of a few
ordinary words, of facial expression, of vocal intonation, but above all
by means of gesticulation, they succeeded, in a few moments, in
explaining themselves and knowing each other better than many do after
months of intercourse.

I was interested in this strange conve