oilette here; and although I am now
growing accustomed to it, at first it worried me dreadfully,
and left me no time to read. And, a propos of reading, Lady
Hester has given me such a strange book, 'Mathilde,' it is
called; very clever, deeply interesting, but not the kind of
reading you would like; at least, neither the scenes nor the
characters such as you would care for. Of course I take it
to be a good picture of life in another sphere from what I
have seen myself; and if it be, I must say there is more
vice in high society than I believed. One trait of manners,
however, I cannot help admiring, the extreme care that every
one takes never to give even the slightest offence; not only
that the wrong thing is never said, but ever even suggested.
Such an excessive deference to others' feelings bespeaks
great refinement, if not a higher and better quality. Lady
Hester is delightful in this respect. I cannot tell you how
the charm of her manner grows into a fascination. Captain
Onslow I see little of, but he is always good-humored and
gay; and as for Sir Stafford, he is like a father in the
kindliness and affection of his cordiality. Sydney I miss
greatly; she was nearly of my own age, and although so much
superior to me in every way, so companionable and
sisterlike. We are to write to each other if she does not
return soon. I intended to have said so much about the
galleries, but Mr. Jekyl does quiz so dreadfully about
artistic enthusiasm, I am actually ashamed to say a word;
besides, to me, Nelly, beautiful pictures impart pleasure
less from intrinsic merit than from the choice of subject
and the train of thoughts they originate; and for this
reason I prefer Salvator Rosa to all other painters. The
romantic character of his scenery, the kind of story that
seems to surround his characters, the solemn tranquillity of
his moonlights, the mellow splendor of his sunsets, actually
heighten one's enjoyment of the realities in nature. I am
ashamed to own that Raffaelle is less my favorite than
Titian, whose portraits appear to reveal the whole character
and life of the individual represented. In Velasq'uez there
is another feature--"

Here came an interruption, for Nina came with gloves to
choose, and now arose the difficult decision between a