And now, my dear Diana, tell me more about yourself, and your own life in this delicious place.' 'There is so little to tell.

The books I have read, the theories of literature and art and science which I have adopted and dismissed, learnt and forgotten--those are the history of my life.

The ideas of the outside world reach me here only in books and newspapers; but you who have been living in the world must have so much to say.

Let me be the listener.' Lady Kirkbank desired nothing better.

She rattled on for three-quarters of an hour about her doings in the great world, her social triumphs, the wonderful things she had done for Sir George, who seemed to be as a puppet in her hands, the princes and princelings she had entertained, the songs she had composed, the comedy she had written, for private representation only, albeit the Haymarket manager was dying to produce it, the scathing witticisms with which she had withered her social enemies.