She bought, indeed, with liberality, but her manner of studying us through a quizzing-glass, and playing cicerone to her followers, acquitted us of any gratitude.

She had a tail behind her of heavy, obsequious old gentlemen, or dull, giggling misses, to whom she appeared to be an oracle.

'This one can really carve prettily: is he not a quiz with his big whiskers ?' she would say.

'And this one,' indicating myself with her gold eye-glass, 'is, I assure you, quite an oddity.' The oddity, you may be certain, ground his teeth.

She had a way of standing in our midst, nodding around, and addressing us in what she imagined to be French: '_Bienne_, _hommes_! _ca va bienne_ ?' I took the freedom to reply in the same lingo: _Bienne_, _femme_! _ca va couci-couci tout d'meme_, _la bourgeoise_!' And at that, when we had all laughed with a little more heartiness than was entirely civil, 'I told you he was quite an oddity!' says she in triumph.