"I gladly accede to your proposal," cried I laughing, but blushing with conscious vanity at the same time.
"What an obedient wife!" cried one of the ladies; "public homage has not spoiled her yet, I see."
"Nor can it," replied I, "while I possess my husband's homage, which I value far more."
"While you possess it! Then, if his homage should fail you, you might perhaps be pleased with the other?"
"I humbly hope not: but if exposed to that bitter trial, I dare not assert that I should not yield to it as scores of other women do every day; for I must say, in defence of my sex, that good husbands, generally speaking, make good wives; and that most women originally value the attentions of their husbands more than those of other men. On your sex, therefore, O false and fickle man! be visited the crimes of ours!"
This grave discourse provoked some laughter from my audience, from which I was glad to escape to our carriage, which had waited for us while we alighted.
"So, Helen," said my husband as we went home, "it is your opinion,
| That when weak women go astray, |
| Their lords are more in fault than they." |
"It is."
"And you said what you did as a gentle hint and a kind warning to me how I behaved myself?"