"Above all things, never go to their wearisome _At Homes_; but if they attack you with one of their downright speeches,--sorry not to have had the honour, &c. &c.--hoping you had received a card, &c. &c.--curtsey, and say you were vastly sorry, but you forgot the day, or----no no, say _mistook_ it; yes, _mistook_ it, that is best, because it is a loop-hole that answers for dinner as well as any other party; yes, a mistake of the day is the best recipe I know, for any invitation which you may chance to hesitate about, and perhaps think it possible you might like to accept, and then having done so, repent of it when the time comes--a mistake in the day sets all right. You are _au desespoir_, and _they_ must believe you, or make themselves appear ridiculous; it may indeed cost you a note or two, but that is the worst of it, and then _vous en êtes quitte pour la vie_." Lady Glenmore, who had been so astonished hitherto that she could not reply, now found herself called upon to make some answer, as there was a pause on the part of Lady Tenderden. "You have told me so many things," she said, "my dear Lady Tenderden" (smiling as she spoke), "that I am afraid I shall never remember the half of them, particularly as they are upon subjects which, to tell you the truth, do not interest me much, if at all. One thing you said, however, that was very kind, and kindness is not lost upon me I can assure you, which was the cordial expression with which you wished me joy of my happiness. I should indeed be ungrateful if I did not feel warmly obliged to you; only you omitted in the catalogue of my felicities, that, without which there would be no felicity for me--I mean my being the wife of Lord Glenmore; who, had he not possessed any of the adventitious advantages you enumerated, I should equally have preferred to the whole world." "Oh! _cela va sans dire_, of course such a young and handsome husband is taken into the account; but, my dear young friend, _vous ne voulez pas vous donner des ridicules_, much less render your husband the laughing-stock of all the world, by setting yourself up with him _en scène de Berger et Bergere_; besides, permit me to say, that is just the way to lose him. If you are always at his elbow, watching him _en furet_, depend upon it he will soon think you are jealous, and following him out of curiosity. Now there is nothing a man can so ill bear as the idea of being watched, particularly by a wife; besides, all his male friends would avoid him if they saw he had such an Argus--for, beautiful as you are, you must not have an hundred eyes, to spy out every thing your husband does; no no, my dear, when you are _en tête-à-tête_, it is all well enough, this new-married fondness; but it will soon evaporate, take my word for it, and then you will be dying to break the troublesome habit _de part et d'autre_, and will not know how to set about it: take great care, _ma chère ladi_, to begin as you mean to go on."