Some of Lady Tilney's companions in _ton_ had not, like her, escaped the breath of slander; one or more were supposed to have listened, at least, to that corruptive voice of gallantry, which withers the bloom and freshness of a married woman's reputation; whose error is remembered long after its cause has passed away--let it have been real or imaginary;--in either case the effect on a woman's character is the same. It is in vain that in a certain sphere there exists a tacit agreement to pass by, and gloss over such defamatory tales; the persons coming under their degrading mark have a seal set upon them, which, in spite of themselves, and maugre the usage of _their_ world, is nevertheless destructive of peace; and it requires little penetration to see beneath the forced smiles which are put on with the adornments of the toilette, the gnawing worm that preys upon the heart. The fatal effects of such errors attach only to those guilty of them; the feeling inspired for their situation would be one of pure commiseration; but, alas! the influence of example is contagious, and whatever is felt for the individual who thus errs, the sentence of condemnation must go forth against the crime. In regard to the other members who formed Lady Tilney's intimate circle, the Countess Tenderden, Princesse de la Grange, Lady de Chere, and Lady Boileau, for instance, there was equal matter for remark, varying with the character of each. The first of these, possessing nothing decided in her composition, had been, from the commencement, a follower in the track of others, and it was owing to this laziness of disposition that she became the ready and obedient slave of fashionable command, as well as from her early initiation into the secrets of _ton_, rather than from any other cause, that she held the place she did in Lady Tilney's estimation. Lady Tenderden's unsatisfactory and frivolous existence had thus been passed without any decided plan, except that of being generally impertinent, and of courting personal admiration; which, when it is paid to beauty alone, ceases with the first cessation of youth: the consciousness of which fact added no genuine sweetness to the smile of Lady Tenderden; but left her, although in the possession of most of the outward circumstances which could grace existence, with a fading person and a dissatisfied mind. Princesse de la Grange was a star in the midst of this false galaxy of _ton_, in as much as a strict regard to married duty, and a preservation of moral and religious principle, gave to her character a superior brightness; but whether from the taint of the poisonous air she breathed, or from a defect of strength of mind, or from the situation she filled, or from all these circumstances combined, the Princesse de la Grange did not escape entirely the pollution of folly, and she too delighted in the vanity of being exclusive.