104 JUNE 



to her ; the bump of reverence is wanting. The 

 Man of Wrath, who should surely be sacred, escapes 

 her scorn no more than the others, and furnishes 

 her with many an opportunity for jibes. I am 

 positive that she has failed to bend him to her 

 imperious will, as she would fain bend all with 

 whom she comes into contact. She has certainly 

 not cured him of holding his glass in his left hand, 

 and she bears him a perennial grudge in con- 

 sequence. 



At the moment when I begin to wonder if there 

 is any person in the world for whom she really 

 cares, it is a relief to find her confessing that she 

 likes her coachman almost as much as her sundial ; 

 but it turns out that that is only because he never 

 attempts to thwart any of her unreasonable wishes. 

 She hates giving presents, lest the recipient shall 

 be spoilt and she shall suffer in consequence. She 

 has an eccentric dislike to furniture, though I am 

 convinced that she would be the first to cry out if 

 she had not enough of it, or if her armchair was not 

 comfortable, or if her presses were not large enough 

 to hold her frocks. But there is no pleasing her. 

 Things animate and inanimate alike annoy her, and 

 the one person who is in her eyes entirely charming 

 is Elizabeth. 



And indeed she is not very far wrong. She is 

 a fascinating being, and Jim, who recommended 

 the book to me, finds it difficult to endure with 

 equanimity the thought that the Man of Wrath has 

 attained by right of conquest the privilege of her 

 constant companionship. She will always interest 

 the Man of Wrath ; she will never though the 



