s of
innocent girlhood, so utterly dependent on her husband, that a man sees
at once that he has not a moment left for any one else.

There is pleasure in the thought of all that delicate weakness appealing
to our strength, of that innocent ignorance looking up to us for
guidance through the wilderness of the world. Of course it will soon be
over, and when the dear dependent has learnt to walk alone a little we
can go back to the old faces and take our segar as before. But somehow
the return never comes, or, if it does come, the old faces have grown
far less enchanting to us. The truth is, we have tasted the second
pleasure of married life--the pleasure of being an authority. All that
shy appeal to us, all that confession of ignorance, has taught us what
wonderfully wise fellows we are. We are far less inclined to wait for
Smith's approval, or to take our tone from the group at the club-window.
It is, to say the least, far pleasanter to be an authority at home.
Gradually we find ourselves becoming oracular, having opinions on every
subject that a leading article can give us one upon, correcting the
Chancellor of the Exchequer on the Malt-tax and censuring Lord Stanley's
policy towards the King of Ashantee. Life takes a new interest when we
can put it so volubly into words. At the same time we feel that the
interest is hardly shared by the world.

Our old associates apparently fail to appreciate the change in us, or to
listen to our disquisitions any more than they did of old; it is a
comfort to feel that we have a home to retreat to, and that there is one
there who will. To the subtle flattery, in short, of weakness and of
ignorance, woman has now added the flattery of listening. To say little,
to contribute hardly more than a cue now and then, but to be attentive,
to be interested, to brighten at the proper moment, to laugh at the
proper joke, to suggest the exact amount of difficulties which you
require to make your oratorical triumph complete, and to join with an
unreserved assent in its conclusion, that is the simple secret of the
power of ninety-nine wives out of a hundred. It is a power which is far
from being confined to the home. The most brilliant salons have always
been created by dexterous listeners.

A pleasant house is not a house where one is especially talked to, but
where one discovers that one talks more easily than elsewhere. The tact
is certainly invaluable which enables a woman to know the strong p