; but now she could bathe the longest and the strongest of any
one, could ride on the beach half the day, and dance the German into
the small hours of the night, with a degree of vigor which showed
conclusively what a fine thing for her the Newport air was. Her
dancing-list was always over-crowded with applicants; bouquets were
showered on her; and the most superb "turn-outs," with their masters
for charioteers, were at her daily disposal.

All this made talk. The world doesn't forgive success; and the
ancients informed us that even the gods were envious of happy people.
It is astonishing to see the quantity of very proper and rational
moral reflection that is excited in the breast of society, by any
sort of success in life. How it shows them the vanity of earthly
enjoyments, the impropriety of setting one's heart on it! How does
a successful married flirt impress all her friends with the gross
impropriety of having one's head set on gentlemen's attentions!

"I must say," said Belle Trevors, "that dear Lillie does astonish me.
Now, I shouldn't want to have that dissipated Danforth lounging in
my rooms every day, as he does in Lillie's: and then taking her out
driving day after day; for my part, I don't think it's respectable."

"Why don't you speak to her?" said Lottie Cavers.

"Oh, my dear! she wouldn't mind _me_. Lillie always was the most
imprudent creature; and, if she goes on so, she'll certainly get
awfully talked about. That Danforth is a horrid creature; I know all
about him."

As Miss Belle had herself been driving with the "horrid creature"
only the week before Lillie came, it must be confessed that her
opportunities for observation were of an authentic kind.

Lillie, as queen in her own parlor, was all grace and indulgence. Hers
was now to be the sisterly _role_, or, as she laughingly styled it,
the maternal. With a ravishing morning-dress, and with a killing
little cap of about three inches in extent on her head, she enacted
the young matron, and gave full permission to Tom, Dick, and Harry to
make themselves at home in her room, and smoke their cigars there in
peace. She "adored the smell;" in fact, she accepted the present of
a fancy box of cigarettes from Danforth with graciousness, and would
sometimes smoke one purely for good company. She also encouraged her
followers to unveil the tender secrets of their souls confidentially
to her, and offered gracious mediations on their behalf with any of
the