fidelity an obsolete affectation: but for my part, I honour and

think better of the woman who through all her struggles with the

world--through all those sordid, grim, merciless, secret battles where

the vanquished may not even cry for succour--I honour her, I say, for

that she had yet cherished the memory of that first love which is the

best and purest and most unselfish and most excellent thing in life.

[XVI]

Breakfast Margaret enjoyed hugely. I regret to confess that the fact

that every one of her guests was more or less miserable moved this

hard-hearted young woman to untimely and excessive mirth. Only Mrs.