(Reproduced from the Biographical Edition of Thackeray’s Works, by kind permission of Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co.)] was not a fool; nor Theo and Kitty Lambert other than good and true women. It seems strange that while his female readers can forgive him Becky Sharp, greatest of adventuresses, and can tolerate even Blanche Amory of “Mes Larmes,” they cannot pardon him Amelia Sedley. There are many other admirable sketches. Mrs. Peggy O’Dowd, lion-hearted, loyal and wise enough; the Dowager Countess of Southdown, Mrs. Bute Crawley, Miss Briggs, Miss Crawley, the lovable Catherine (the “Little Sister” of “Philip”); Miss Fotheringay and Fanny Bolton, who ensnared the affections of young Pendennis--what man has not met one or both of these?--Madame de Florac, the old lady with the beautiful face; the terrible Campaigner; Mrs. Warrington, who preferred to be known as Madame Esmond; Lady Castlewood, tender, loving, unreasoning, who can rise to the dignity of a great situation: “My daughter may receive presents from the Head of our House; my daughter may thankfully take kindnesses from her father’s, her mother’s, her brother’s dearest friend; and be grateful for one more benefit besides the thousand we owe him”; and, above all, irresistible, wayward Trix--that contradiction in words, an ambitious woman. So alluring is Beatrix that it is absurd to expect any man to think that she was ever all bad. Who knows but that if Harry Esmond had been a little less sensitive of his own demerits, and had let her see him as he was, they might have married and lived as happy as most couples? But her chance of redemption passed, and Beatrix became the Madame de Bernstein of “The Virginians.”