“You seem to have a very poor opinion of women, Jane.”

“They want to marry, all of them:  you admit that, don’t you?” asked Mrs. Stunner severely.

“I think not,” objected Mrs. F. in a feeble voice.  “There is Miss Furnaval:  they say she has refused—­”

“Then,” interrupted her sister, not heeding her, “if they want to marry, why not take the proper means?  It is inconceivable to me how women, after thinking about it all their lives, blunder into it in the end, just as if it was an entirely unforeseen event.  A little good sense is requisite in everything, I think.”

“They are not all anxious to marry,” reiterated Mrs. Fluffy, gaining courage:  “there’s Miss Furnaval—­”

“A great example to give one!” remarked her sister contemptuously.  “She is making a fool of herself as fast as she can.  Among all the young ladies who marry badly, the fascinating ones prosper the worst.  No girl can refuse a good offer with impunity:  a day of reckoning will come.  Society has its laws, which must be obeyed:  if not, gare!  Mark my words,” continued Mrs. Stunner solemnly:  “Miss Furnaval has some outlandish un-society principles, and practically they will not work.  Why, she is quite as well contented talking to a poor man as to a rich one, and she is always encouraging worthless, amusing, handsome fellows—­talented men, instead of men whose position dispenses with the necessity of their having brains.  Those fellows she has about her are the pests of society.  If you hear of a runaway match, you may be sure it is with one of them; if a daughter is obstinate, you may be sure some ineligible jackanapes has prompted her to it.  Blanche will end badly.  She will fall in love with one of them some day, and finish by marrying him.”

“If Miss Furnaval loves one of that kind of gentlemen, I don’t see why she might not be happy with him.”

“You don’t see anything, Sarah.  You don’t see the nose on your face, though I see ’tis a very big one.  I will make it evident to you.  He will be poor, Blanche is rich:  if she gives him her money, he will spend it.  Never having had any of his own, he won’t know how to take care of it.  If, on the other hand, she don’t give it to him, he will think she does not care for him—­will get jealous, likely take to drink:  your clever man always does.  They will quarrel; then her clever husband will use his clever tongue to tease her, and his clever brain to thwart and provoke her—­which a stupid man would never think of doing—­and, worse than all, she will never get the least chance to have her own way in anything.”

“Poor Blanche!  I pity her,” sighed Mrs. Fluffy.

“I don’t, in the least,” snapped the other.  “Such an example will serve to make other girls more sensible.  Only you take it as a warning to your own Eva.”

After quite a long silence, in which I suppose Mrs. Fluffy was considering, she said pathetically, “I wish you would tell me what to do with Eva.”