Mrs. Meanwell fights her friends’ battles with the weapons of chaff and ridicule, and after her victories she generally manages to secure peace. That is one of the secrets of her success as a “dearest friend.” The friend who, in times of trouble or quarrel, enlists the help or advocacy of Mrs. Meanwell, feels as sure of everything being put right as the litigant when he has secured the legal services of a George Lewis. But it is not only in times of tribulation or difficulty that Mrs. Meanwell acts the “dearest friend” in very earnest. If an engagement be announced in her social circle she is the one to keep all her friends posted up in all the details, how long the affair has been in progress, when he first spoke out, what he said, what are the mundane prospects of the young couple, what arrangements have been made for the wedding, and last, but not least, the component parts of her trousseau. All these details have been confided to Mrs. Meanwell in her capacity as “dearest friend” of somebody very nearly connected with the bride or bridegroom. It is indeed a noteworthy coincidence that when any interesting event is on the _tapis_, especially a wedding, an engagement or a jilting, a good romantic scandal, or a sensational illness, Mrs. Meanwell always happens to be on terms of closest friendship with somebody connected with it, so that she can ever be relied on for the very latest and most accurate information. She never minds how much trouble she takes on these occasions to gain this information or to give counsel when called upon. She has, by the way, a reputation for practical wisdom in all things, which has grown out of some occasional happy random hits in the way of advice on mundane matters, the result of a clear wit that dominates the sentiment in her nature, and thus enables her to keep her “dearest friendships” well under control and to the purpose. Mrs. Meanwell’s friends, it will be seen, consult her on many things, but, perhaps, it is on the subject of dress that she is at her best and strongest. She has a veritable genius for costume, and has won many a friend with the turn of a hat, the cut of a bodice, the fall of a flounce, the hang of a skirt, or the harmonious hues of an evening-gown. In matters of clothes she has the critical eye of a Ruskin, combined with the constructive imagination of a Worth, and, consequently, she is simply invaluable as an adviser to her friends, for that they shall dress well is a _sine quâ non_ if they wish to retain her friendship.