near her hand summoned a maid, who appeared with tea, the morning's
post, and a mass of printed matter: newspapers, reviews, magazines,
volumes, which had arrived by various channels since noon on the
previous day. Apparatus of perfected ingenuity, speedily attached to
the bed, enabled her to read or write in any position that she found
easiest. First of all she went through her letters, always numerous,
never disquieting--for Mrs. Toplady had no personal attachments which
could for a moment disturb her pulse, and her financial security stood
on the firmest attainable basis. Such letters as demanded a reply, she
answered at once, and with brevity which in her hands had become an
art. Appeals for money, public or private, she carefully considered,
responding with a cheque only when she saw some distinct
advantage--such as prestige or influence--to be gained by the pecuniary
sacrifice. Another touch on the button, and there entered a graceful
woman of discreet visage, with whom Mrs. Toplady held colloquy for half
an hour; in that time a vast variety of concerns, personal, domestic,
mundane, was discussed and set in order. Left to herself again, Mrs.
Toplady took up the newspapers; thence she passed to the bulkier
periodicals; lastly, to literature in volume. Her manner of reading
betokened the quick-witted woman who sees at a glance the thing she
cares for, and refuses to spend a moment on anything not immediately
attractive. People marvelled at the extent of her acquaintance with
current writing; in truth, she never read a book, but skimmed the pages
just sufficiently for her amusement and her social credit. In the world
of laborious idleness, Mrs. Toplady had a repute for erudition; she was
often spoken of as a studious and learned woman; and this estimate of
herself she inclined to accept. Having daily opportunity of observing
the fathomless ignorance of polite persons, she made it her pride to
keep abreast with the day's culture. Genuine curiosity, too, supplied
her with a motive, for she had a certain thin, supple, restless
intelligence, which took wide surveys of superficial life, and was ever
seeking matter for mirth or disdain in the doings of men.

Her first marriage was for love. It cost her seven years of poverty and
wretchedness; it cost her, moreover, all the ideals of her youth, and
made her a scheming cynic. Having, by natural power and great good
fortune, got the world at her feet, she both enjoyed and des