evening listening to Mrs. Gould bemoaning
the state of the country; she spoke of her terrier, and this led up to a
critical examination of the good looks of several of the officers
stationed at Gort; then she alluded to the last meet of the hounds, and
she described the big wall she and Mrs. Manly had jumped together; a new
hat and an old skirt that she had lately done up came in for a passing
remark, and, with an abundance of laughter, May gave an account of a
luncheon-party at Lord Rosshill's; and, apparently verbatim, she told
what each of the five Honourable Miss Gores had said about the marriage.
Then growing suddenly serious, she said:

'It is all very well to laugh, but, when one comes to think of it, it is
very sad indeed to see seven human lives wasting away, a whole family of
girls eating their hearts out in despair, having nothing to do but to
pop about from one tennis-party to another, and chatter to each other or
their chaperons of this girl and that who does not seem to be getting
married. You are very lucky indeed, Alice--luckier than you think you
are, and you are quite right to stick out and do the best you can for
yourself in spite of what your people say. It is all very well for them
to talk, but they don't know what we suffer: we are not all made alike,
and the wants of one are not the wants of another. I dare say you never
thought much about that sort of thing; but as I say, we are not all made
alike. Every woman, or nearly every one, wants a husband and a home, and
it is only natural she should, and if she doesn't get them the
temptations she has to go through are something frightful, and if we
make the slightest slip the whole world is down upon us. I can talk to
you, Alice, because you know what I have gone through. You have been a
very good friend to me--had it not been for you I don't know what would
have become of me. You didn't reproach me, you were kind and had pity
for me; you are a sensible person, and I dare say you understood that I
wasn't entirely to blame. And I wasn't entirely to blame; the
circumstances we girls live under are not just--no, they are not just.
We are told that we must marry a man with at least a thousand a year, or
remain spinsters; well, I should like to know where the men are who have
a thousand a year, and some of us can't remain spinsters. Oh! you are
very lucky indeed to have found a husband, and to be going away to a
home of your own. I wish I were as lucky as y