e reminds me of something
that my illustrious model says of another man. She says that he "would
risk telling me or anyone he loved, before confiding to an inner circle,
faults which both he and I think might be corrected." Grammar was no
doubt made for slaves--not for the brilliant and autobiographical. All
the same, a prize should be offered to anybody who can find the missing
"risk" in mentioning to another a point on which both are agreed.

She adds that she has had "a long experience of inner circles." There,
it must be admitted, she is ahead of me. But the only inner circle of
which I have had a long experience has been much improved since it was
electrified.

In congratulating Peter upon a new appointment, with three under him, I
asked when I first met him. His reply was particularly staunch, and I
quote from it:

"It was in May 28, 1913. The hour was 1.38.5 Greenwich Time, and I
shall never forget it. You were sixteen then, and the effect as you
came into the room was quintessential. Suddenly the sunlight
blazed, the electric light went on automatically till the fuses
gave way, the chimney caught fire, the roof fell in, the petrol
tank exploded, old R--y said that he should never care to speak to
his wife again, and the butler dropped the Veuve Clicquot. After
that the shooting party came in, but for some reason or other the
sentence was not carried out."

I have very few staunch friends, and many of them have had to be
discarded from weakness; but when they are staunch--well, they really
are. The only trouble with Peter Cochin was that he was too cautious. He
was given to under-statement. I do not think he gives a really full and
rich idea of the effect I habitually produced.

I sometimes think that I am almost too effective. Still, as I said
before, the Latin word "margo" does mean "the limit."

FIFTH EXTRACT

MISFIRES

My family had a curious dread that I should marry a groom. I never did.
To be quite honest, I never had the opportunity. But I did get engaged
to quite a lot of other things.

My first engagement was when I was very, very young. He was a humorous
man, and perhaps I was wrong in taking him so seriously. Still, he must
have adored me. When I accepted him his hair turned completely white--an
infallible test of the depth of emotion.

He was an excellent whip. It used to be a wonderful sight to see him
taking a pair of young horses do