war against Mrs. Harrison, that she had
retaliated upon them all, and that the husbands were drawn into their
wives' quarrels, and obliged to fight shy of her before strangers. It
was clear, then, that he must apply to a bachelor; and accordingly he
waylaid Sumner, who "was too happy" to introduce him at once in due
form.

As Ashburner came up to Mrs. Harrison she began to play off her eyes at
him, and he then perceived that they constituted her chief beauty. They
were of that deep blue which, in certain lights, passes for
black,--large, expressive, and pleasing; the sort of eyes that go right
through a man and look him down to nothing. Indeed, they had such effect
on him that he lost all distinctive idea of her other features. Her
manner, too, had something very attractive, though he could not have
defined wherein it consisted. She did not exhibit the _empressement_
with which most of her countrywomen seek to put a stranger at his ease
at once; or the _exigence_ of a spoiled lady waiting to be amused; or
the haughtiness of a great lady, who does not care if she is amused
herself and deigns no effort to amuse others. Neither did she attack him
with raillery and irony, as Mrs. Benson had done on their first meeting.
But she behaved as if she were used to seeing men like Ashburner every
day of her life, and was willing to meet them half-way and be agreeable
to them, if they were so to her, without taking any particular trouble,
for there was no appearance of effort to please, or even of any strong
desire to please, in her words and gestures; yet she _did_ please and
attract very decidedly.

"So I saw you in Mrs. Harrison's train!" said Benson, when they next
met.

"Yes, and I fancy I know why you hesitated to introduce me."

As Ashburner spoke he glanced towards the parlor, where "our set"--Mrs.
Benson, of course, conspicuous among them--were engaged in their
ordinary occupation of dancing.

"Oh, I assure you, _madame_ is not disposed to be jealous, nor am I a
man to take part in women's quarrels. I don't like the lady myself, to
begin with; and were I a bachelor, should have as little to say to her
as I have now. In the first place she is too old----"

"Too old! she cannot be thirty."

"Of course a lady never _is_ thirty, until she is fifty, at least; but
at any rate I may say, without sacrilege, that Mrs. H. is pretty high up
in the twenties. Now, at that age a woman ought--not to give up society,
that would b