The conversation again reverted to Ophelia Strong’s pilgrimage to Callydon. Mrs. Marjoy’s explanatory suggestions were neither very magnanimous nor very refined. Both ladies grew exceedingly animated over so lofty a topic. They discovered much complacent self-flattery in the comparison of their opinions. Mrs. Mince made frequent references to the text of her husband’s sermon.
Previous to the vicaress’s departure Mrs. Marjoy stated certain postulates that deserve record, evidencing as they did the salubrious and Christian atmosphere of that unique and excellent woman’s mind.
All servants are emissaries of Satan.
All fashionable women imbibe brandy secretly.
All men are libertines with the exception of one’s own husband.
Only those people are respectable who happen to move in the same groove as one’s self.
That charity, as a virtue, is peculiar to women.
That Gabriel Strong was an unprincipled person.
That his wife wore figure-pads and dyed her hair.
That Mrs. Jumble was a preposterous pedant.