'Mrs.
Ashleigh is a lady of amiable temper, and you are a woman of masculine understanding.'" Here there was a general titter.

Mrs.Colonel Poyntz hushed it with a look of severe surprise.

"What is there to laugh at?
All women would be men if they could.

If my understanding is masculine, so much the better for me.

I thanked Mr.Vigors for his very handsome compliment, and he then went on to say that though Mrs.Ashleigh would now have to leave Kirby Hall in a very few weeks, she seemed quite unable to make up her mind where to go; that it had occurred to him that, as Miss Ashleigh was of an age to see a little of the world, she ought not to remain buried in the country; while, being of quiet mind, she recoiled from the dissipation of London.