to the point of indiscretion, her husband most assuredly knows all

about it, by this, and he and I are still the best of friends. So you

perceive that if I ever did so far forget myself it could scarcely

have amounted to a hanging matter.

I am doubly sure that Margaret Hugonin was beautiful, for the reason

that I have never found a woman under forty-five who shared my

opinion. If you clap a Testament into my hand, I cannot affirm that

women are eager to recognise beauty in one another; at the utmost they

concede that this or that particular feature is well enough. But when

a woman is clean-eyed and straight-limbed, and has a cheery heart,