mere petulance, but which I
was now inclined to accept as a sign of temper. "Yes, indeed, Giacomo,"
she said, in hard tones, altogether unlike her usual musical voice.
"You are growing so forgetful that it is positively annoying. You know
I have often to tell you the same thing several times. One command
ought to be sufficient for you."

Giacomo passed his hand over his forehead in a troubled way, sighed,
and was silent. Then, as if suddenly recollecting his duty, he refilled
my glass, and shrinking aside, resumed his former position behind my
chair.

The conversation now turned on desultory and indifferent matters. I
knew my wife was an excellent talker, but on that particular evening I
think she surpassed herself. She had resolved to fascinate me, THAT I
saw at once, and she spared no pains to succeed in her ambition.
Graceful sallies, witty bon-mots tipped with the pungent sparkle of
satire, gay stories well and briskly told, all came easily from her
lips, so that though I knew her so well, she almost surprised me by her
variety and fluency. Yet this gift of good conversation in a woman is
apt to mislead the judgment of those who listen, for it is seldom the
result of thought, and still more seldom is it a proof of intellectual
capacity. A woman talks as a brook babbles; pleasantly, but without
depth. Her information is generally of the most surface kind--she skims
the cream off each item of news, and serves it up to you in her own
fashion, caring little whether it be correct or the reverse. And the
more vivaciously she talks, the more likely she is to be dangerously
insincere and cold-hearted, for the very sharpness of her wit is apt to
spoil the more delicate perceptions of her nature. Show me a brilliant
woman noted for turning an epigram or pointing a satire, and I will
show you a creature whose life is a masquerade, full of vanity,
sensuality and pride. The man who marries such a one must be content to
take the second place in his household, and play the character of the
henpecked husband with what meekness he best may. Answer me, ye long
suffering spouses of "society women" how much would you give to win
back your freedom and self-respect? to be able to hold your head up
unabashed before your own servants? to feel that you can actually give
an order without its being instantly countermanded? Ah, my poor
friends! millions will not purchase you such joy; as long as your
fascinating fair ones are like Caesar's