Page:Essays in miniature.djvu/68

 64 proven to the world how deft and skilful is her manipulation of that difficult medium, drawing-room gossip. It would be unjust and absurd to compare her stories, slight and unsubstantial as pencil sketches, with the finished masterpieces of English fiction; but there are touches in these modern tales which convince even a casual reader of splendid possibilities ahead. The setting of Mademoiselle Ixe is so fine, the lightly drawn English people who surround the mysterious governess and her still more mysterious victim are so real, that we cease to ask ourselves obtrusive questions concerning the purpose and utility of the crime. Better still are some of the scenes in Cecilia de Noël, where Lady Atherley's serene and imperturbable good sense tempers the atmosphere, and gives exactly the proper effect to her husband's rather long-winded eloquence, to Mrs. Mostyn's amiable and cruel evangelism, and to Mrs. Molyneux's amusing eccentricities. All these characters have individuality of their own, and all reveal themselves through the intricacies of conversation, while occasionally