d on the occasion of her own marriage.
"It is no good mincing matters now-a-days," Mrs. Carbuncle would have
said, had any friend pointed out to her that she was taking strong
measures in the exaction of toll. "People have come to understand
that a spade is a spade, and L10, L10," she would have said. Had Mrs.
Hanbury Smith not noticed the application, there might, perhaps, have
been an end of it, but she was silly enough to send over from Paris
a little trumpery bit of finery, bought in the Palais Royal for ten
francs. Whereupon Mrs. Carbuncle wrote the following letter:--

MY DEAR MRS. HANBURY SMITH,

Lucinda has received your little brooch, and is much
obliged to you for thinking of her; but you must remember
that when you were married, I sent you a bracelet which
cost L10. If I had a daughter of my own, I should, of
course, expect that she would reap the benefit of this
on her marriage;--and my niece is the same to me as a
daughter. I think that this is quite understood now among
people in society. Lucinda will be disappointed much if
you do not send her what she thinks she has a right to
expect. Of course you can deduct the brooch if you please.

Yours very sincerely,

JANE CARBUNCLE.

Mr. Hanbury Smith was something of a wag, and caused his wife to
write back as follows:--

DEAR MRS. CARBUNCLE,

I quite acknowledge the reciprocity system, but don't
think it extends to descendants,--certainly not to nieces.
I acknowledge, too, the present quoted at L10. I thought
it had been L7 10s.--["The nasty, mean creature," said
Mrs. Carbuncle, when showing the correspondence to
Lizzie, "must have been to the tradesman to inquire! The
price named was L10, but I got L2 l0s. off for ready
money."]--At your second marriage I will do what is
needful; but I can assure you I haven't recognised nieces
with any of my friends.

Yours very truly,

CAROLINE HANBURY SMITH.

The correspondence was carried no further, for not even can a Mrs.
Carbuncle exact payment of such a debt in any established court; but
she inveighed bitterly against the meanness of Mrs. Smith, telling
the story openly, and never feeling that she told it against herself.
In her set it was generally thought that she had done quite right.

She managed better with old Mr. Cabob, who had certainly received
many of Mrs. Carbuncle's smiles, and who was very rich. Mr. Cabob