ildren in the Rubb and Mackenzie line of life, for the sake of
such exceptional rank as was to be maintained by associating with
the Stumfoldians. And, as she became used to the things and persons
around her, she indulged herself in a considerable amount of social
philosophy, turning over ideas in her mind for which they, who saw
merely the lines of her outer life, would hardly have given her
credit. After all, what was the good of being a lady? Or was there
any good in it at all? Could there possibly be any good in making a
struggle to be a lady? Was it not rather one of those things which
are settled for one externally, as are the colour of one's hair and
the size of one's bones, and which should be taken or left alone,
as Providence may have directed? "One cannot add a cubit to one's
height, nor yet make oneself a lady;" that was the nature of Miss
Mackenzie's argument with herself.

And, indeed, she carried the argument further than that. It was well
to be a lady. She recognised perfectly the delicacy and worth of the
article. Miss Baker was a lady; as to that there was no doubt. But,
then, might it not also be very well not to be a lady; and might
not the advantages of the one position be compensated with equal
advantages in the other? It is a grand thing to be a queen; but a
queen has no friends. It is fine to be a princess; but a princess has
a very limited choice of husbands. There was something about Miss
Baker that was very nice; but even Miss Baker was very melancholy,
and Miss Mackenzie could see that that melancholy had come from
wasted niceness. Had she not been so much the lady, she might have
been more the woman. And there could be no disgrace in not being a
lady, if such ladyhood depended on external circumstances arranged
for one by Providence. No one blames one's washerwoman for not being
a lady. No one wishes one's housekeeper to be a lady; and people are
dismayed, rather than pleased, when they find that their tailors'
wives want to be ladies. What does a woman get by being a lady? If
fortune have made her so, fortune has done much for her. But the good
things come as the natural concomitants of her fortunate position.
It is not because she is a lady that she is liked by her peers and
peeresses. But those choice gifts which have made her a lady have
made her also to be liked. It comes from the outside, and for it
no struggle can usefully be made. Such was the result of Miss
Mackenzie's philosophy.