were for the most part intensely respectable, at first hung back, having heard rumours of Mrs. Chadwick's ante-nuptial professional experiences, and having a vague idea that she had been 'on the stage,' their husbands, to whom the business connection with Mr. Chadwick was valuable, insisted on their not merely accepting the invitation, but on their behaving themselves without the stiffness and frigidity which they delighted to display whenever they thought they could safely do so. The step thus made was satisfactory, but the society obtained by it was rather poor. It began to improve when some of the younger members of the House, and the private secretaries of ministers whom Mr. Chadwick had now and then occasion to wait upon, found out and appreciated the excellence of the cuisine and the cellar in Fairfax-gardens, and not only came themselves when asked, but brought their friends--guardsmen, Foreign-office clerks, and men about town of various ages and degrees. So far as the men were concerned, this was all very well; but Mrs. Chadwick saw with regret that, with the ladies she had made very little way. The extremely proper and generally plain-headed wives of the commercial baronets and M.P.s turned up their eyes at each other in horror at some of the male company, whose loose living was notorious, and whom they saw dancing attendance in Fairfax-gardens; dear Lord George never brought dear Lady George, the Marquis never so much as mentioned the Marchioness, although Mrs. Chadwick gave him frequent opportunities for doing so; and though several of the private secretaries chattered volubly enough about their sisters, no cards from those ladies were ever delivered in Fairfax-gardens.