something was said which did attract her notice, and
she actually made a spontaneous remark herself. She realized then that
the worst was over. She never again felt such terror on entering a room,
and though I never heard that she shone in society, she was always able
after that to carry on her share of a conversation without anxiety. She
simply laid herself aside for the time being and paid attention to what
was going on.

But while it is usually best for a young girl to go into society which
lies naturally in her way, it is a very different thing to push into
society which lies outside of her path. It is necessary to speak
strongly on this point. In every city the number of inhabitants who have
lived in it since its foundation is, of course, very small, and they
always form an aristocracy, jealous of interlopers. They generally are a
law-abiding, conservative class, with some sterling qualities. They are
superior to a great many people who would like to associate with them,
but inferior to a great many others. Now, just at the circumference of
this circle there is another circle equally good, intelligent, and
refined, who see no reason why they should be shut out from the inner
circle. There is no reason except that they did not first occupy the
central ground. The aristocracy of the city is formed on the principle
of "first come, first served," and the first will never relinquish their
places to the new-comers. Why should the new-comers care? There are
enough among them to make a society as good, intelligent, and refined as
that from which they are shut out. Nevertheless, it is a human failing
to prize what we cannot have, and some of the later comers look
wistfully across the dividing line. They cannot cross it, but sometimes
their daughters can. They send their daughters to the same schools with
the daughters of the "four hundred," and the girls make friends with
each other, and with a little skill the password may be learned and the
young plebeian may find herself indistinguishable from a patrician.
There are fathers and mothers who urge their daughters to make haste to
occupy every coigne of vantage, and gradually advance into the heart of
the enemy's country. I am not speaking now of those who are so vulgar as
to intrigue for invitations, but simply of the ambitious who wish to
accept an invitation given in good faith because it is a step upward in
the social scale. Of course I would not say that such an invitat