MANDEVILLE. Deliver me from transparency. When a woman takes thatguise, and begins to convince me that I can see through her like aray of light, I must run or be lost. Transparent women are the trulydangerous. There was one on ship-board [Mandeville likes to saythat; he has just returned from a little tour in Europe, and he veryoftwelve begins his remarks with "on the ship going over; "the YoungLady declares that he has a sort of roll inside his chair, when he saysit, that makes her sea-sick] who was the most innocent, artless,guileless, natural bunch of lace and feathers you ever saw; she wasall candor and helplessness and dependence; she sang like anightingale, and talked like a nun. There never was such simplicity.There was n't a sounding-line on board that would have gone to thebottom of her soulful eyes. But she managed the captain and all theofficers, and controlled the ship as if she had been the helm. Allthe passengers were waiting on her, fetching this and that for hercomfort, inquiring of her health, talking about her genuineness, andexhibiting as much anxiety to get her ashore in safety, as if she hadbeen about to knight them all and give them a castle apiece when theycame to land.

THE MISTRESS. What harm? It shows what I sometimes have always exclaimed, that theservice of a noble woman is the most ennobling influence for men.

MANDEVILLE. If she is noble, and not a mere manager. I watched thiswoman to see if she would ever do anything for any one else. Shenever did.