I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvellous to us.

Am I thy looking-glass that thou callest me knave?

But Lady Brandon treats her guests exactly as an auctioneer treats his goods.

Punctuality is the thief of time.

I thought I had no heart. I find I have, and a heart doesn't suit me. Somehow it doesn't go with modern dress. It makes one look old. And it spoils one's career at critical moments.

Outside the family circle, papa, I'm glad to say, is entirely unknown. I think that is quite as it should be. The home seems to me to be the proper sphere for the man.

I was obliged to call on dear Lady Harbury. I hadn't been there since her poor husband's death. I never saw a woman so altered; she looks quite twenty years younger.