w' type is frank and
sincere, and as steady in her friendships as the most perfect gentleman.
In love, she is disappointing, if not absolutely a fraud. Indeed, the
idea of her possibly falling in love would seem to her quite as funny as
it would to other people. She is of a cool temperament.

In friendship, her heart is set in the right place; in love, it is deaf
and dumb.

She is fond of good living and of gaieties of all sorts, both in town
and country. She prefers the society of men to that of women. She is no
coquette, but has no objection to flirting--in fact, she enjoys it, and
all the more that she knows it cannot make her run the least danger. 'It
amuses men,' she thinks, 'and it doesn't hurt me.'

She sleeps, eats, drinks, dresses, rides, drives, dances, smokes, talks,
laughs, and throws her money out of every window from the garret to the
cellar.

People enjoy her society because she is cheerful and gay, a bright
conversationalist, generally pretty, always elegant and fashionable,
and most exquisitely dressed. She is unconventional, and the men like
her for it; she seldom indulges in silly gossip, and the women are
grateful to her for it. In fact, she is popular with men and women
alike, because neither of them has anything to fear from her. The hearts
of men and the reputations of women are safe in her hands; she does no
damage to either.

Most people think that this type of woman is the happiest. As a girl,
yes, perhaps; but not after twenty-five. The woman 'jolly fellow' very
often makes all that noise in order to shake off her thoughts. If her
heart is unable to speak and unable to hear, the reason often is that it
is dead.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE WOMAN 'GOSSIP'

Men and women who retail slander, whether it has any foundation or not,
ought to be unmercifully boycotted by all decent people; and, to be
just, I will say that there is as much gossip, and of the worst kind,
too, going on in men's club smoking-rooms as there is at afternoon
tea-gatherings. Great, though scarce, is the woman who can keep other
people's secrets as safely as her own. And how watchful women should be,
and constantly be on their guard, always mindful that not more than one
man out of ten can keep a secret. I mean _his own_.

There are many women who gossip and retail scandal, not out of
wickedness or with the intention of hurting anyone, but for the mere
sake of being entertaining at the dinner-table or round the tea-t