Social life, however, so far, had had a salutary effect on her. She had become more equable, more dependent on the approval of others, and less liable to unconventional self-assertions. Nothing, indeed, could have been better for Rose Filmer than the tight social rein of a set which conscientiously tried to be both religious and fashionable. She was compelled to honor _les convenances_, and to obey them; compelled to suppress her spontaneity--which was seldom a pleasant one--and to consider the feelings of others, as well as the wishes of her own heart. At college she had been remarkable for her self-willed personality; one season in society had taught her a decent self-restraint. Consequently, she deliberated well the answer to her friend's letter. "If I want to break with her, I have now an excellent excuse," she thought. "I could tell her that, though I have a soul above noticing the accident of birth, my whole nature declares against deception. There are a dozen moralities in the position, and I could retire wounded and innocent, and leave her altogether in the wrong. But do I want to break with Yanna? Would it be to my advantage? I think not. The girls in our set do not like me. Julia Mills the other day called me 'a little hypocrite' to my face. She did it with a laugh, but all the other girls laughed too, and it was not pleasant. Yanna believes in me. Then next summer we shall be at Woodsome, and mamma is right about the long, tiresome summer days. Yanna was born in the village; she knows every one, gentle and simple, and what is the use of neighbors if you cannot gossip about them? "Besides," she continued, "I have now three lovers, and I have not one girl friend with whom I can talk them over--all the girls in our set are so jealous of me--and Yanna would like to see my love letters, I have no doubt. I wonder if she has a lover yet! I suppose not, poor girl! Then there will be fun in watching Harry. Whether he be utterly heartless, or, as mamma thinks, 'very impressionable,' he cannot meet Yanna day after day without some consequences. I think, upon the whole, it will be best to keep friends with Yanna." And having come to this decision, she raised herself from the reflective attitude into which she had fallen, and going to a table wrote as follows: