They still, however, occasionally met; for both parties wished to preserve the same demeanour towards the other. Mr. Wroxholme took an opportunity of expatiating upon the meanness of those men who could condescend to be toad-eaters and hangers-on of the great: "He had no notion how any one with the feelings of a gentleman could endure being take up, and set down, at pleasure;" and asserted, "that a man who could submit to such treatment, amply deserved to meet with it!" There was a tone of asperity in his mode of speaking which proved that his was not a general observation on men and manners, but that he spoke from personal feeling. She was inexpressibly hurt, and she determined she would, by some means, let him know she was not one of the heartless fine ladies to whom he alluded. The evening before their departure for the country, she invited a few friends to meet at her house; and, among others, Mr. Wroxholme. She had formed no distinct plan; and yet she vaguely hoped she should be able to undeceive him, and to correct the impression he had so erroneously received of her late conduct. Notwithstanding his wounded pride, he could not resist the temptation to pass one more evening in her society. The party was small, the conversation general: subjects of literature were discussed; the novels of the day were naturally mentioned. From them she easily led the discourse to the French novels of the day that is passed, and she took the opportunity of remarking how just were the little observations and reflections with which they were often interspersed. Mr. Wroxholme added, that in knowledge of the smaller workings of the human heart, he thought Madame de Genlis was scarcely inferior to Madame de Staël. "But none of Madame de Genlis's are equal in power to Delphine," replied Lady Westhope. "Are you a great admirer of Delphine?" inquired some one. "A great admirer of the eloquence and fire with which it is written; and if the motto at the beginning is borne in mind, the truth of which is forcibly exemplified by the fate of both the hero and heroine, I think a great moral truth may be extracted from it; though I grant that the charm thrown around immoral feelings might render it a dangerous book for the young." "And what is the motto?" "'Que l'homme doit braver l'opinion, la femme s'y soumettre.' All the miseries of Leonce and Delphine arise from their neither of them following the maxim contained in the motto. How fortunate it is for us women, that the opinion of the world, and virtue, always prescribe the same line of conduct! There are many occasions in which it is praise-worthy, nay, admirable, in a man to risk the censure of his fellows; many in which he may act ill without risking it. But with us it is quite different: it is seldom that we incur the condemnation of our own consciences, or the disapprobation of others, if we avoid not only what is really wrong, but that which may bear the semblance of wrong."