l result, these two ladies became
inseparable, and the most hermetically sealed doors opened before the new
arrival.

A talent for music or acting is another aid. A few years ago an entire
family were floated into the desired haven on the waves of the sister's
voice, and one young couple achieved success by the husband's aptitude
for games and sports. In the latter case it was the man of the family
who did the work, dragging his wife up after him. A polo pony is hardly
one's idea of a battle-horse, but in this case it bore its rider on to
success.

Once climbers have succeeded in installing themselves in the stronghold
of their ambitions, they become more exclusive than their new friends
ever dreamed of being, and it tries one's self-restraint to hear these
new arrivals deploring "the levelling tendencies of the age," or
wondering "how nice people can be beginning to call on those horrid So-
and-Sos. Their father sold shoes, you know." This ultra-exclusiveness
is not to be wondered at. The only attraction the circle they have just
entered has for the climbers is its exclusiveness, and they do not intend
that it shall lose its market value in their hands. Like Baudelaire,
they believe that "it is only the small number saved that makes the charm
of Paradise." Having spent hard cash in this investment, they have every
intention of getting their money's worth.

In order to give outsiders a vivid impression of the footing on which
they stand with the great of the world, all the women they have just met
become Nellys and Jennys, and all the men Dicks and Freds--behind their
backs, _bien entendu_--for Mrs. "Newcome" has not yet reached that point
of intimacy which warrants using such abbreviations directly to the
owners.

Another amiable weakness common to the climber is that of knowing
everybody. No name can be mentioned at home or abroad but Parvenu
happens to be on the most intimate terms with the owner, and when he is
conversing, great names drop out of his mouth as plentifully as did the
pearls from the pretty lips of the girl in the fairy story. All the
world knows how such a gentleman, being asked on his return from the East
if he had seen "the Dardanelles," answered, "Oh, dear, yes! I dined with
them several times!" thus settling satisfactorily his standing in the
Orient!

Climbing, like every other habit, soon takes possession of the whole
nature. To abstain from it is torture. Napoleon, we are told