"Yes; I make it my business to see everything--good, bad, and indifferent," answered the strong-minded dowager, in a voice which would hardly have shamed the Lord Chancellor's wig, which those Thurlow-like eyebrows so curiously suggested. "It is the sole condition upon which London life is worth living. If one only saw the good things, one would spend most of one's evening at home, and we don't leave our country places for _that_. I see a good deal that bores me, an immense deal that disgusts me, and a little--a very little--that I can honestly admire." "Then I am sure you must admire 'Cupid and Psyche,'" said Christabel. "My dear, that piece, which I am told has brought a fortune to the management, is just one of the things that I don't care to talk about before young people. I look upon it as the triumph of vice: and I wonder--yes, _very_ much wonder--that _you_ were allowed to see it." There was an awfulness about the dowager's tone as she uttered these final sentences, which out-Thurlowed Thurlow. Christabel shivered, hardly knowing why, but heartily wishing there had been no such person as Lady Cumberbridge among her aunt's London acquaintance. "But, surely there is nothing improper in the play, dear Lady Cumberbridge," exclaimed the eldest gusher, too long in society to shrink from sifting any question of that kind. "There is a great deal that is improper," replied the dowager, sternly. "Surely not in the language: that is too lovely?" urged the gusher. "I must be very dense, I'm afraid, for I really did not see anything objectionable." "You must be very blind, as well as dense, if you didn't see Stella Mayne's diamonds," retorted the dowager. "Oh, of course I saw the diamonds. One could not help seeing them." "And do you think there is nothing improper in those diamonds, or their history?" demanded Lady Cumberbridge, glaring at the damsel from under those terrific eyebrows. "If so, you must be less experienced in the ways of the world than I gave you credit for being. But I think I said before that this is a question which I do _not_ care to discuss before young people--even advanced as young people are in their ways and opinions now-a-days."