n boredom for the food they eat; to "at homes" which are
the most "homeless" things imaginable--travelling here and there, from
one entertainment to another which proves as unutterably dull as the
first one. Not content with these things, they must perforce be seen at
the Opera--although they _hate_ music; visit all the exhibitions of
art--when Maude Goodeman is their favourite painter; talk cleverly of
books which they would never read did not people talk about them, and
generally follow for three long months a time-table of "enjoyment" which
very few of them really enjoy. In the meanwhile, the only affairs which
give them pleasure are the little impromptu ones arranged on the spur of
the moment between friends.

Of course I am not speaking of the debutante. She, "sweet young thing,"
always enjoys any entertainment at which there are plenty of young men
and ices. Nor, judging from observation, do I include among those who
willingly go through the three months' hard labour of a London season
those henna haired ladies--thickening from anno domini--who seem
perfectly happy in the delusion that their juvenile antics are still
deliciously girlish, and whose decollete dresses would seem to declare to
the world that, though their faces may begin to show the wear and tear of
life, their plump backs don't look a day over twenty-five. The one is so
young that she will enjoy anything which requires the endurance of youth.
The other is of that age which is happy hugging to its bosom the adage
that a woman can't possibly look a day older than champagne makes her
feel.

No, the person whose life of amusement I pity is the person who accepts
invitations because she daren't refuse them. If the world doesn't see
her in all places where she _should be_ seen, the world always presumes
her to be dead--and people would rather die in reality than live to be
forgotten. But what a price they have to pay to keep their memories
green.

No, as I said before, the only entertainments which people really enjoy
are those at which they can be perfectly natural--natural, because they
are perfectly happy. Rarely are they fixed affairs, advertised weeks
beforehand. Mostly are they unpremeditated---delightful little impromptu
amusements made up of people who really desire to meet each other. Large
entertainments are almost invariably dull. Upon them hangs the heavy
atmosphere or a hostess "paying off old debts in _one_." The only really
am