“That depends,” I answered rather coldly. “Life is life, and I find it a serious thing, though it may seem ‘dreadfully funny’ to you, Aunt Augusta. Anyhow, funny or not funny, I shall not butcher my eighteenth year to make a Roman holiday, as they say. Important things _must_ happen to me in my eighteenth year. Nobody can get through their eighteenth year without important events; but if you think———-” “Forgive me,” she said. “I didn’t mean it for a moment. It’s a lovely diary, and I shall always treasure it, and I wouldn’t have a word altered—and it’s my birthday, so you mustn’t be cross.” Well, I forgave her; because she’s really a jolly old thing, and of the greatest assistance to me behind the scenes, so to speak. Besides, everybody knows that the feminine sense of humour is merely dust and ashes. No doubt, if I had written with badinage or pleasantry, in a light and transient vein, enlivened by sparks of persiflage and burlesque, she would have taken it in a tearful spirit and cried over it. But only a woman can laugh at the naked truth; men know it’s a jolly sight too serious. To laugh at my diary was the act of the same woman who drank champagne on the night of the revolution. We must remember that they are not as we are, and treat them accordingly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Transcriber’s note: Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original. 4.10 careful [caligraphy] _sic_ 28.13 He said that chiaro[ o]scuro Removed. 165.3 increasing satisfaction and happiness.[)] Added.